Side Stories
by Runandra
Summary: Not recommended if you have not read 1001 Nights and Angel's Prayer. Collection of short stories related to the main story. A result of my wishful thinking, really. Completely for my fun. Read and Reviews please XD Suggestions are most welcome.
1. Violin

_**Disclaimer:**__ I do not own HunterxHunter_

_**Setting**__: Any time in the 1001 Nights timeline, definitely after 'Chapter 7 – Double Trouble', but perhaps a bit further than that._

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_**VIOLIN**_

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"Kurapika, Kurapika! Look at what I found!" Fino ran with great enthusiasm towards the blonde girl; who was leisurely sitting on a comfortable sofa reading a book. Kuroro and her had decided to stay a night in that inn again, since the town happened to be the nearest to the Centaur Forest. Fino was holding a small, long, rectangular box in her hands.

"What is it?" Kurapika took the box from her hands and inspected it.

"Inside! Look what's inside!" She gestured at her to open the lid of the box, which Kurapika did. Inside the box was an old violin, but she knew that it was well preserved. She lifted the old violin out of the box carefully, as if handling a fragile item. She looked at it carefully, but since she was no expert in violin, she could not give any comments about it.

"Whose is that?" Suddenly Kuroro joined in the conversation casually. He looked at the old violin with interest. Kurapika looked at the expression on his face, and then back to the violin.

"If this violin interests you, it means it is valuable." She thought out loud.

"How did you come up with such analysis?" Kuroro looked at her with amusement, but nonetheless did not deny her statement. "Look at the violin again, this time use Gyo." He told her.

Kurapika did as she was told, and to her surprise she saw faint aura blanketing the violin delicately.

"This is a masterpiece. When someone who is not exposed to Nen uses all his efforts and concentration into making a piece of work, they unconsciously put Nen on it. That's why some art pieces really draw attention." Kuroro explained as he took the violin from Kurapika's hands.

He looked at it briefly, before placing the violin on his shoulder. He felt the balance, and when he was pleased, he gestured at Fino to hand him the bow. Suddenly, with the swiftness of an expert, he began tuning the violin, adjusting the strings and then when he was satisfied with it, he started playing a song. It was quite simple, yet Kurapika gawked at him unceremoniously. She had never thought that a bandit like him would be able to play something as high class as a violin. When he was done with his mini concert; he smiled with satisfaction at his skills and then handed the violin back to Fino; who was still dumbstruck.

"Wow…I never knew you could play the violin." She said in a whisper, as she took the violin from his hands with rather shaky hands.

Kurapika said nothing and instead she stared at Kuroro as if he was a complete stranger to her. Fino said some praises to Kuroro, which he politely declined; saying that he was just an amateur and did not deserve such praises. When Fino went back to the store room to put back the violin, Kuroro turned around and noticed Kurapika's gaze still fixed on him.

"What?"

"I never thought you can play something as refined as a violin." She said bluntly and without batting an eyelash. Kuroro chuckled at her brash comments; trust her to say something hurtful at him without even the slightest hint of remorse.

"She taught me." He said airily before walking back towards his book on another couch.

"Ishtar?"

"Mm-hm." He just mumbled and said nothing more. He continued reading his book, and from the way he answered, she knew that he did not want to be pestered about his so-called foster mother. Kurapika sighed; his mood always turned sour when her name was mentioned.

She was awakened by a sound of violin. She thought she was dreaming, but then the sound seemed too real. She listened to it for a while, before finally prying open her eyes and scanned the surrounding in search of the person playing the violin. When she found the person, her sleepy eyes grew wide and suddenly her sleepiness evaporated.

There, sitting on a fallen tree trunk near the campfire, was Kuroro playing the violin; his back towards her. Kurapika turned around to look at him, and Kuroro sensed her movements. He stopped playing and turned his head to look at her. When his dark eyes met her blue ones, he put down the violin.

"She gave it to me." He told her without waiting for the question to be said. "She said nobody in her family could play it, so might as well give it to someone who can play it."

"And I bet you are more than happy to accept it. It's a masterpiece after all."

Kuroro smiled at her; one of his rare ones. Kurapika blinked at his action. "I'm not going to sell it for money." He said as he put the violin back into its box.

"Play it again." Suddenly she found herself blurting out, before she could stop the words from pouring out of her mouth.

Kuroro looked up and stared at her with puzzled eyes. Kurapika only looked at him, too embarrassed to say anything else, but Kuroro smirked and took out the violin again. He adjusted it on his shoulder and began playing it; this time it was a soft melody, which lulled her into sleepiness.

She stared at him as he played, but before her heavy eyelids finally closed, she saw a smile on Kuroro's lips directed towards her. Then, she fell into deep slumber.

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_**Author's Note**__: This was inspired by a picture of Kuroro playing a violin in deviantART. If you are curious, got to deviantART and search "HxH – Kuroro violin". I think violin suits Kuroro just fine. He is, after all, a very debonair person in my opinion. I don't know if Kurapika would appropriately acted the way I mentioned in this chapter, though. Been a while since the last time I mentioned Fino. I miss her =P She's such a sweet girl._


	2. Haircut

_**Disclaimer**__: I strictly do not own HunterxHunter_

_**Setting**__: any time during the 1001 Nights timeline, definitely after 'Chapter 11 - You Could Have Told Us Earlier'._

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_**HAIRCUT**_

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"Your hair has gotten longer." He commented noncommittally.

Kurapika was in the middle of brushing her hair in the bathroom when Kuroro passed by and gave her a fleeting glance. She froze for a second and stared at the man with a quirked eyebrow, but the man had buried his nose in his book yet again. Pushing the insignificant comment aside, Kurapika shrugged and continued brushing her hair. She turned to the mirror before her and realized that indeed her hair had grown past her shoulder. She touched a lock of her golden hair and stared at it. She put down the brush and stepped out of the toilet.

They were in a two-bedded room in a hotel, resting their sore bodies after a long week of walking and crossing the wilderness without proper bath or bed. For once, Kuroro had gracefully opted to book a room in a hotel instead of staying in some inn at the outskirt of the city. And for once, they decided to take a break during the new moon instead of doing any 'works'. Kurapika had not really complained or protested; her body needed some clean bath and proper grooming badly. After being stuck with him for so long, she had been begrudgingly used to his presence. Still, she would prefer to ignore him most of the time, and he would do the same.

She crossed the small room; her footsteps muffled by the soft carpet, and approached the small cabinet near the wardrobe. Kuroro, as usual, did not bother her and resumed his reading silently. She rummaged through the cabinet until she found what she was looking for; a scissor. She walked back to the bathroom and faced the mirror. Kurapika measured her hair; estimating how short she would cut her hair. Just as she raised the scissor and was about to cut a lock of her golden hair, a deep voice stopped her.

"What do you think you are doing, young lady?"

The voice was even and emotionless, but there was some hint of disapproval in it. Kurapika froze midway and turned to see Kuroro standing in the doorway of the bathroom; one hand on his hip and the other on the door frame. He raised an eyebrow, questioning her action. Kurapika frowned at his use of words, but nonetheless kept her cool.

"Cutting my hair, obviously." She replied curtly.

"Why?"

"Because it's too long for me. It's not practical." She said. There was a short pause, before she told him, or more like warned him. "It doesn't concern you, anyway."

"Maybe it doesn't…" His voice trailed away as he stared at her hair. Kurapika backed away and glared at him; or tried to. The look in his eyes was telling her that he was judging her look, and it made her uneasy. "…but long hair suits you better."

Kurapika spun on her heel to fully face the man and stared at him with surprise. Then, her surprise turned into irritation in a flash.

"What makes you think you know what looks good for me? Now, go away and don't bother me." She said as she brandished the scissor in front of her.

"Come to think of it…" He ignored her ultimatum and instead leaned closer to take a better look at her hair. "It does look a bit messy. Especially the bangs."

"What—" She was already so flustered by his sudden concern of her appearance, and was made even worse as the older man proceeded on measuring the length of her bangs with his fingers. As he did so, his other hand moved to smoothly take hold of the scissor that had been dangerously held by the girl.

"Hmm… You may want to close your eyes."

Without warning, he cut her too-long bangs. Out of surprise, she shut close her eyes and Kuroro resumed cutting her hair quickly, before the girl had the chance to gather back her senses and started retaliating.

"Hands off!" Kurapika finally blew and swatted away his hand. Luckily, by then he had finished trimming her bangs. She turned to the mirror and was expecting to see some funny looking hair, but much to her surprise, her bangs were perfectly trimmed; at least for an amateur.

"Not bad." Kuroro looked at his handiwork with pleased eyes and put the scissor on the marble bathroom table. He walked away and went back to his previous occupation.

Soon enough, the girl emerged from the bathroom and put back the scissor into the cabinet. Kuroro stole a quick glance, and was surprised to see his so-called handiwork intact. He had somewhat expected the girl to cut the bangs some more, being the rebellious teenage girl she was, but she had begrudgingly accepted it and did nothing to alter it; as she emerged from the bathroom with a pout. Somehow, it pleased him and he let a small smile crept up his lips.

On Kurapika's part, she wondered why a man like him could know how to cut hair. He seemed to know all kinds of weird, uncommon skills.

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_**Author's Note**__: Not a very appealing chapter, I know, but I just feel that I need to put in a story about Kurapika's hair. Any suggestion on other occasions about her hair?_


	3. Alcohol Tolerance

_**Disclaimer**__: I do not own HunterxHunter_

_**Setting**__: any time during the 1001 Nights timeline, after 'Chapter 12 – A Moment of Instanity'_

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_**ALCOHOL TOLERANCE**_

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He swore that he did not know that it was liquor chocolate. All he knew was that he received a package sent by his Genei Ryodan members under Shalnark's name, and inside was some delicious looking chocolate. He had good-naturedly shared the chocolate with the girl, although they just had one of their routine arguments. Sweet stuffs were never his favourite, anyway. Kurapika had been suspicious when he offered her the chocolates, and he had purposely left out the tiny fragments of fact that it was given by his Spiders. She would not touch the chocolate at all, if she had known it. But she did not know, and thus she ate some of it.

If only he had known that the chocolate was infused with some strong brandy and whiskies, he would not even offer those chocolates to her. From experience, he knew that the girl had low alcohol tolerance. The last time she drank some alcoholic drink in some social gathering; where they had disguised themselves in order to steal the Scarlet Eyes, the outcome had been disastrous. This time, it was even more embarrassing, and he could only thank God that there was nobody else around.

Now because of his recklessness, he found himself in a very awkward predicament. Kurapika had the knack of mistaking him as her older brother, although he knew that he looked nothing alike as her brother, and she would do whatever silly things she used to do with her older brother. No matter how hard he tried to convince her verbally that he was not her brother, she would not listen—or understand in her case. He had occasionally thought of knocking the girl out cold so that she would not bug him, but he simply could not bring himself to do it; the reason being he was actually partially enjoying it. When she was drunk, it was the only time that he could touch her without being harassed by her glares or words.

The first time she was drunk, she had hugged him and clung to him as she drifted into sleep. She had even kissed him on the cheek, thinking that he was her brother. This second time, which occurred long after the first one, she had not mistaken him as her older brother. She called him Kuroro, alright, but she did not make any effort to push him away when he touched her. She only looked at him with her sleepy eyes as she lay supine on the bed, her face red, her head pounding from the alcohol. Kuroro sat at the edge of the bed, looming over her and peering curiously at her. Her reaction was definitely different from before.

"Well, this is interesting." Kuroro said as he touched her cheek. She did not do as much as flinching from his cold touch. He tried further; pinched her cheek lightly, and she giggled.

Kurapika Kuruta actually _giggled_. It took all he had not to unceremoniously gawk.

Out of the blue, Kurapika curled her arms around his neck and began to hug him. Again. Somehow, Kuroro was getting the idea that the girl actually liked hugging him. Smiling to himself, he let her do as she pleased.

With a soft push from Kurapika, they went into an even more compromising position on the bed. She lay on top of him while nuzzling up against the crook of his neck. Kuroro strongly doubted that this was one of those silly things she used to do with her brother. In any case, he took his sweet time inhaling the scent of her golden hair. It was only a waft of a very distinct scent that was characteristically hers. The strands of her golden hair tickled his chin; they felt like silken spider webs. Absentmindedly, as if his hands had a brain of its own, Kuroro began stroking Kurapika's golden crown of hair.

And suddenly, just so suddenly again, Kurapika jolted awake as if she had been electrocuted to her senses. She looked up, and looked down only to stare into those abysmal dark orbs of Kuroro's eyes. For what seemed like eternity they stared at each other, before finally Kurapika's instinct got the better of her.

SLAP!

"Danchou, what's with the red mark on your cheek?" Shalnark suddenly inquired, when he was in another meeting with Kuroro. Of course Kurapika was present (no other options).

Kurapika went frigid. She turned to stare at Shalnark, and then quickly glared at Kuroro. The older man deliberately avoided the girl's glare. Shalnark, who had no idea on what had happened, blinked.

"You should have told me that it was liquor chocolate, Shal." Kuroro said smoothly, trying to hide a cruel smile.

"So it was you!" Kurapika exclaimed.

"Wha—what's wrong with that?" Shalnark hurriedly backed away from the utterly pissed off Kurapika. Suddenly something clicked in his mind. "D—don't tell me something happened because—"

"Allow me to teach you some etiquette then." Kurapika interjected him and smiled as evilly as she could at him as she wound her chains around the hopeless youth.

"Danchou, help meeeee!"

"Too bad, Shalnark, but I am not going to do anything about it." Kuroro said easily as he watched the entertainment.

For once, he was going to let Kurapika have her blissful moment of tormenting one of his Spiders because he had suffered as well due to that particular Spider's antics. He knew that Shalnark was aware that Kurapika had low alcohol tolerance, so Shalnark should not have sent something like liquor chocolate.

In conclusion, he could only infer that Shalnark had sent that liquor chocolate intentionally. For what purpose, he had no idea and had no desire to find out either. Whatever it was, he had a feeling that it was yet another ridiculous idea that Shalnark had generated on his own.

However so, he had had his share of enjoyment despite the disastrous ending. Perhaps he would have to come to Shalnark's rescue soon, considering the awful noises he was making.

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_**Author's Note**__: I have simply wanted to write something like this since long time ago. Kuroro is actually enjoying the time when he can indulge himself with Kurapika! *grin grin* There'll be others to come, and so feel free to make any suggestions on what kind of comedy or a certain occasion you wish me to write during this 1001 Nights timeline. To think that I manage to update two in a day, I must be in a writing spree…_


	4. Teenager Rebellions

_**Disclaimer**__: I do not own HunterxHunter_

_**Setting**__: Post 'chapter 21 – Divinity' in 1001 Nights_

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_**TEENAGER = REBELLIONS**_

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The members of the Genei Ryodan had never seen their Danchou angry; or at least to the point where he would raise his voice. Yet, here they found Kuroro shouting at a certain stubborn blonde girl, who adamantly still stood her ground despite the utterly pissed off Kuroro Lucifer. What more, she was the very reason why he was really angry.

"It does not justify your unreasonable action! You should know the risk before committing such recklessness!"

"That is the risk that _I_ take, and _I_ have no obligation to explain my actions to _you_, because I am _not_ your spider!"

With that, Kurapika spun on her heels and marched towards THEIR room. She slammed the door in his face so hard that the building shook mildly.

"KURAPIKA!" In his anger, he wrenched the door open and stormed into the room. They had another round of arguments inside, and the Spiders could only wait outside.

Phinks whistled casually at her insolent attitude towards Kuroro; something that they did not see so often. Nobody in the Genei Ryodan dared to challenge Kuroro's authority. The Kuruta girl, however, had done so openly, as if it was just natural. Shalnark shook his head in incredulity and looked at the now-wasted door, hanging uselessly by its one remaining hinge. He knew that both of them were highly educated people, and he knew their arguments could last for hours due to their brains capacity.

"This is the first time I see Danchou shouting." Shizuku whispered to Franklin, who nodded in agreement.

"Man, I'm glad I'm not the one at the wrong end of Danchou's wrath. He's damn freaking scary." Phinks joined the conversation as he spared another quick glanced at the ruined door. "I don't know how that girl can handle it."

"She's stubborn enough to challenge Danchou." Shalnark piped in. "I wonder how many such arguments they have had."

"But I think Danchou is happy with her." Machi suddenly said. The members looked at her as if she had grown another head. "I mean, her challenging him. It's kind of new to him, isn't it?"

"Well, you're right…" Shalnark said, his voice trailing away. He listened at the arguments, and somehow the shouting had ceased although he knew that they were still arguing. "You know, compared to the first time, she is somewhat more openly rebellious now."

Yes, the last time she would only shot him a hateful glare, now she was so open about her (big note: NEGATIVE) feelings towards him. Did that really make any difference?

"I think she is just the same impudent girl as she has always been." Nobunaga snorted.

"But it's kind of entertaining to see them arguing, don't you think so?" Phinks grinned.

"Seeing Danchou so riled over her is interesting." Feitan added with a smirk. Suddenly, they started betting on how long the arguments would last, and when they would make up with each other.

(Nobunaga's cry of indignation: "MAKE UP? HOW—WHAT—NO WAY!")

Machi and Shalnark exchanged a glance. Actually, they had discussed about it before. Both had observed that Kuroro had changed a bit; he was somewhat more humane and less than the ruthless leader he had always been before. Especially when he talked to the Kuruta girl, there was a certain emotion that they could not really pinpoint. It was as if Kuroro was careful when he talked to her, as if trying not to upset her. Besides, he sounded somewhat more casual when he talked to her, unlike when he talked to them. He had been their leader, their head; they were the limbs. However, with Kurapika it was as if there was no such barrier between them. It was not like Kuroro established a kind of chasm, but most of them respected him more as the leader rather than a friend. Kurapika, on the other hand, was not bothered with such thing. If anything, she despised him and therefore had the gall to level herself against him.

Shalnark had also told Machi that Kurapika was 9 years younger than Kuroro, and that was probably why she was being rebellious. It was a time of puberty for her, not to mention that her puberty was delayed due to the 'disguise'. For an analogy, it was like her life was in a hormonal and emotional whirlwind.

There was a crashing sound of something being broken, and followed by mild scolding. All eyes turned to the room but said nothing. Machi and Shalnark sighed. If anything, they could only wish their Danchou the best; since he would have to deal with a rebellious girl at the peak of her puberty. Not that he had any choices, anyway. That would be one hell of job.

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_**Author's Note**__: I don't think Kuroro was the type who shouts, but anyway… I just feel like writing this. Don't criticise me too much, it's just one of those days when my imagination gone wild._


	5. Dirty Dancing

_**Disclaimer**__: I do not own HunterxHunter_

_**Setting**__: Post 'chapter 21 – Divinity', after 'Rebellions' chapter_

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_**DIRTY DANCING**_

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"Nobu, what the hell do you think you are doing?" Phinks asked as he looked at his colleague with wonderment.

Currently, the Genei Ryodan was actually involved in a mission to retrieve one of Kurapika's Scarlet Eyes. They were going to loot the treasures and in the process distracted the guards, leaving the duo to leisurely take the Scarlet Eyes into their possession.

Kuroro had thought that it was a bad idea to put characters like Kurapika and Nobunaga under the same room; considering their fierce tempers and their mutual hatred towards each other. However, seeing no other alternatives at that moment, he had to decide on staying in an abandoned house; all of them.

"I'm listening to them, in case that brat is going to do something suspicious."

"Oh, please, Nobu. Danchou is clearly, obviously stronger than her. If anything, I'd think Danchou'll be the one to do something to her, not the other way round." Phinks snickered.

"Nobu is just jealous." Feitan sneered mischievously at his confrere.

"Shut up, will you? I don't trust her. Not at all!"

"Come on, Nobu. They have been travelling together for months, and nothing happens. If anything, they seem to be in a better term with each other, no?" Shalnark said while trying to make Nobunaga abandon that ridiculous idea of eavesdropping.

If Danchou found out, who knows how he would react? Their Danchou valued privacy above anything else, after all. They would not get away so easily. The last time he was upset with Kurapika, he had actually shouted at her; and that was the most violent of him they had ever seen.

The thought made Shalnark shuddered involuntarily. They said that docile people—people like Kuroro Lucifer—tended to be extremely violent when they were extremely upset.

"That's very dirty of you, Nobu."

"Who are you to talk, Phinks, when you are actually eavesdropping as well?" Machi said coldly, her tone derisive and scoffing.

Apparently, the guys were already immune to her cold demeanour.

"Ssh! Quiet! I hear them talking!" Phinks hissed excitedly as he pressed his ears against the door.

Machi only rolled her eyes heavenward.

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"NO!" She almost shouted, but quickly lowered down her voice. "It is not a necessity to dance there, right? There is no need for this!"

They were going to attend another social gathering yet again. Kurapika complained that it was becoming a pattern, and she was getting tired of attending every single one of those unnecessarily lavish parties. This time, to her utmost horror, it was actually a dance party.

Kuroro looked at her unhappily.

"It's better to know a bit than nothing. Or…" A thought suddenly popped in his mind. "You simply don't want me to touch your waist during the dance?"

Kurapika gave an ugly face; as if she had just eaten a rotten grape, signalling that he was indeed right. Kuroro gave a soft laugh.

"Oh come on, Kurapika. I have practically seen you half naked. What is the big deal of me touching your waist for a dance?"

Kuroro was actually referring to the incident in the Ryokan inn back then when they were in the mission to retrieve Scarlet Eyes in Hanzo's country. Kurapika's face rapidly turned as red as a ripe tomato.

"You—"

Apparently, the conversation was just too much for poor Nobunaga. His face turned into a mixture of red, green, blue, purple, and white—you name it—upon hearing all those. It was all he needed to barge into the room with enraged face, surprising the life out of Kurapika.

"YOU SEDUCE DANCHOU!"

Kurapika blinked at Nobunaga's sudden roaring accusation against her, while he pointed at her with trembling finger. Kuroro was equally surprised by his sudden rage.

"Nobu—"

Before he could say anything, Kurapika's temper exploded as well.

"WHAT? EXCUSE ME! HE IS THE ONE WHO HAS REPEATEDLY SEXUALLY HARASSED ME! HOW DARE YOU ACCUSING ME OF SUCH OUTRAGEOUS CLAIM!"

Several gasps of utmost surprise coupled with numerous sets of eyes were directed to Kuroro, and the said man sighed heavily.

"Danchou, is that true?" Phinks asked with his voice barely a whisper.

"I—"

"IF THAT IS THE CASE, PROVE IT!" Nobunaga continued shouting.

Kuroro turned to Kurapika in attempt to cool her down first; which he had thought would be easier a task than subduing Nobunaga. By golly, how gravely mistaken he was.

"Kura—"

"PROVE IT? DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DESCRIBE TO YOU HOW HE HAS HUMILIATED ME? YOU HOPELESS CASE OF AN IDIOT!"

Kuroro swore that he was going to have severe migraine because of all the shouting and screeching. Unable to take it anymore, Kuroro punched the wall next to him with his fist that it almost crumbled into dusts. The room fell into pin-drop silence.

"Enough is enough." He said threateningly, each of his words was as sharp as a blade.

Nobunaga gulped hard, while the other Spiders froze in their respective spots. That was the first time their Danchou did something so violent due to anger. Kuroro shot all of them a very rare deadly glare.

"Out."

That one word worked wonders. The more receptive Spiders rushed and dragged the dazed Nobunaga out of the room before he could retaliate back. The others scurried away from the scene, fearing a taste of Kuroro's unprecedented wrath. Shalnark was the last one to exit the room, and he closed the door behind him soundlessly.

Once safe outside, he leaned against the door and heaved a heavy sigh.

"What a storm…"

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"Tell me, Kurapika. When have I inappropriately touched you without any important reasons?" He asked while massaging the bride of his nose tiredly.

"…Never."

"Exactly. So please stop saying that I have 'sexually harassed' you. It makes me feel like I have downgraded into a Hisoka."

Kurapika scoffed. "Hah. You are too prideful a debonair to become like Hisoka."

"Do I take that as a compliment?"

She scowled darkly at him. In a way, it was indeed a compliment – Kuroro Lucifer was a gentleman in his own right, and she knew that better than anyone else on this Earth. Kuroro sighed. He paced firmly towards her and pulled her close to him; her body colliding with his. Kuroro gasped loudly.

"Let's continue." He said firmly.

Kurapika knew that his mood was sour, and it was never a good idea to behave difficulty when the man in such mood. She had done that, and it was certainly a very unpleasant experience. Thus, she tried to put up with it as Kuroro slid his hand smoothly along her back and settled it on her slim waist.

Without her realising it, in no time she was so immersed in learning the dance from the debonair man; as she had dubbed him many times before. She did not even mind the very close proximity of their bodies anymore.

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_**Author's Note**__: I simply love it when Nobunaga is being the comic relief. He's just the perfect example of it. I've always imagined them engaging in a kind of Latin dance. Tango perhaps? Too bad I don't know anything about it. Otherwise, I would have written more detailed about how perfect they were together when they danced =P_


	6. When Kuroro Lucifer is Out Cold

_**Disclaimer:**__ Again and again, I do not own HunterxHunter. Ceh…_

_**A few words from the author:**_ _As we have so far seen (or read) it is always Kurapika who is falling sick or drunk—for a reason that the author (me) is just being random and mean to Kurapika… Anyway, here comes one of the extremely rare days when Kuroro is down with a very bad fever and a nasty hangover._

_**Setting: **__After 'Chapter 23 – Scarlet Tears'_

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_**WHEN KURORO LUCIFER IS OUT COLD**_

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"I never thought I will see the day you get a hangover," said Kurapika with amusement and annoyance.

She was amused because for once she got to see him in his most vulnerable moment. She was annoyed because since he was being vulnerable, she had to nurse him back to health—and not to mention the mess he inevitably created with all the vomits and everything else. It was not something very endearing for her, considering that Kuroro Lucifer had been her self-proclaimed nemesis. But nurse him back to health she did, anyway. Her biological hormones kicked in regardless of her (gradually decreasing) hostility and resentment towards him, and her motherly instinct emerged victorious.

So he lay supine on the bed all weak, powerless, vulnerable, helpless, you mention it. Not that he could help it, though. He could not even utter a single coherent word. His survival now depended solely on Kurapika's nursing.

"You never get any hangover, and when you do, it's very extreme," said Kurapika to herself as she shook her head incredulously. She remembered every detail of the event that led to this disastrous moment.

Lucian had dared Kuroro to gulp down a pint of strong alcohol—was it Vodka, or Gin? In any case, she had no idea on what manner of foolishness possessed the Spider Head ("Madness!" Kurapika had half-screamed at him, but was ignored) but he did take on the vampire's challenge and ended up having an instant hangover. Oh, of course he did not miss the drunken stupor period where he virtually harassed Kurapika—was inching his face close to hers while holding the back of her head counted as a harassment?—but had been stopped by her dreadfully mighty slap. It was one of those slaps that knocked the wind out of him along with his drunkenness and sent him instantly into his hangover.

He had sat in silence for a moment, pressing the depression under his eyebrows and just above his eyeballs with his thumbs in attempt to alleviate the headache. He had attempted to stand up and walk towards their bedrooms, but his legs gave away and he collapsed to the ground.

Kurapika gawked at him. Lucian fled the scene in attempt to avoid murder by the Kuruta girl's hands.

"Kuroro?" She exclaimed, not believing that the man would collapse because of some alcohol (well, hullo dear girl, he chugged down one whole pint of Vodka, or Gin, or whatever it was but was definitely something strong. What do you expect, huh? It's already a miracle that he didn't die on the spot due to extreme intoxication.)

He started to mumble incoherently, and Kurapika knew by instinct that here came the Great Hangover.

She gathered him from the floor and, with great effort, made him slump against her shoulder and carried him all the way into the bedroom and deposited him to his bed. The moment he landed on the springy bed, his stomach churned and the content of his lunch and dinner had to get out of his stomach. He threw up violently, making an indescribable mess on the fine carpet but luckily missed out the bed. Kurapika had jumped back equally violently.

"Ew!" She had shouted at him, but her words were meaningless jumbles of sounds to his ears.

Kuroro slumped in defeat in his own bed, all strength drained from his body. Kurapika stared at him gingerly. She never expected that strong alcohol in considerable amount, of all things, would be the one to defeat the invincible Kuroro Lucifer, head of the Genei Ryodan.

After cleaning all the mess on the floor and on his face, she took one basin of cold water (left by Lucian in front of their bedroom door as a mean of apology but was insufficient in Kurapika's opinion; she would get to him later, she swore), wrung the wet small towel and draped it gently on his burning forehead. He only stirred slightly in his restless sleep.

Kurapika stared at him in silence. She took her sweet time scrutinising his visage, taking in and memorising every single fine detail of his facial feature. It was not something that she did often—in fact, she never deliberately attempted such act. At best, she would only look at him in the eyes when necessary. She never wanted to observe his face, only his expression when she was trying to discern any lies or hidden hints in his words. She was afraid of it, for a reason she did not really comprehend.

Now that she looked close at his face, she could see that he was indeed very good looking (now she somewhat understood why Neon Nostrad had once been admiring him so much). He had a very finely defined jaw lines, and his skin was as smooth as an infant—she begrudgingly thought—and was porcelain-like in colour. With the fever draining what little colour he had on his skin, he now appeared more like a freshly deceased corpse than a human. The cross birthmark on his forehead, however, was the most eye-catching feature of all, though by then it was covered by the cold compress.

Absentmindedly, Kurapika brushed the fine raven strands of hair that was stuck on his pale face—she had no solid reason to offer on why she was doing it, but she was simply compelled to do it.

Kuroro stirred slightly again, and this time he opened his eyes into a very tired-looking slit. He stared at her in a daze, but even when his dark eyes were cloudy with fever, there was a kind of emotion hovering in it. Kurapika caught it, but could not really discern what he wanted from her.

"What is it?" She asked softly; so soft it was, in fact, that Kurapika was surprised that she was capable of speaking with such tenderness to him. She sounded almost too motherly to her taste. It felt foreign to her.

He tried to tell her something, but she could not catch a single word he was saying. As such, she resorted to reading his lips movements.

"Borrow…Your…Lap…and hand?" Kurapika articulated his wish, and was perplexed by that strange wish.

He nodded weakly, and once again closed his eyes. His breath was even, and he seemed to have fallen asleep. If she wanted, she could leave him be and pretended that she never heard him (or lips-reading him in this case). Kurapika had no idea on what possessed her, but she had obediently and magnanimously complied with his whimsical wish.

Carefully, Kurapika slid a hand beneath his head and lifted it to rest it on her lap. She shifted so that both she and he had a comfortable position that would last long enough. She sat on the bed with Kuroro's head on her lap. Then, she began to stroke his raven hair. Kuroro then visibly relaxed and restlessness no longer disturbed his much-needed rest.

Of course Kurapika had no idea that this was something that Ishtar used to do when Kuroro, as a boy, had fallen victim to fever as well.

* * *

The next morning, to Kurapika's slight dismay, Kuroro still had not recovered. The fever had gone alright, but the headache stubbornly lingered. Sitting up on the bed, he massaged his temples to rid the throbbing the sensation but it simply would not go away. His head felt like exploding.

"Still bad?" Kurapika asked wearily.

He nodded slowly.

Kurapika sighed and slumped in her seat on his bed. Because of this, however, when Kuroro lay down back—without warning whatsoever—his head landed on her stomach rather on her laps.

She yelped in surprise, but surprisingly did not knock the light out of the sick man who had accidentally rested his head on her stomach.

On Kuroro's part, however, her stomach felt strangely warm and soft. It gave a better feeling than when he laid his head on the cold pillow. Even more peculiar, his headache receded when he stayed that way. So, without asking for permission whatsoever, Kuroro remained in that position and slept on.

The Kuruta girl felt like grinding his face with her elbow, given the convenient position, but ultimately decided against it. If he got worse, she would be the one to be in more trouble than she already was. In any case, she did not really mind it. It was kind of…comforting as well.

Again, the urge to stroke his hair came and she did not resist it.

Little did she know that Lucian was spying on them from the window; and he took a picture of them in such romantic—compromising in Kurapika's vocabulary—position. It was only years later that he did give each one of them a copy of that picture, though he was rewarded by vicious beatings by the female.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__This is written based on suggestion by one of the reviewers, notably __**haru**__ (one of those account-less reviewers, if I'm not wrong), who wishes to read about Kuroro getting drunk and sick. There you go, and tell me what you think of it. More suggestions are most welcome, like always XD_


	7. Caffeine of Doom

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter, and will never…_

_**Setting:**__ After 'Chapter 23 – Scarlet Tears', after meeting Lucian Virgiliu_

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_**CAFFEINE OF DOOM**_

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Being a vampire, I have lived for a very long time. In fact, I don't even remember the exact date of my rebirth as a _strigoi _(undead). Not that I care though. Keeping track of time is not really in my interest. One thing for sure, in my centuries of long life, I have never ever encountered a more entertaining and amusing pair than these two people.

Well, that is not supposed to be something really surprising, seeing that they are people beyond the dictionary description of 'normal'.

One is totally, completely, ridiculously obsessed with the idea of getting her revenge for her massacred tribe people. She will go to great lengths to extract her revenge, though so far she only manages to score one against her offender. If I'm not wrong, that was when she sealed his Nen or something like that. The other one is utterly, incorrigibly unpredictable debonair who carries the air of nonchalance. He does not even mind the company of a very dangerously volatile Kuruta girl who has sworn a bloody oath of vengeance against him. If anything, he seems to like her presence more than anything. Weirdos…

Oh, speak of the devil, here they are.

"This is beyond ridiculous! This is against the law!" Kurapika screeches as she and Lucifer make their way into the kitchen.

There goes a piece of my quietude of the day. There is never a day without them bickering from the most trivial issues to the most ground-shaking matters. I have to admit that it's more entertaining to watch them fighting over small issues though. It shows how much they are into each others' lives. I can never tell this to them, though, because Kurapika will surely try to squeeze the undead life out of me again with her chains. Not that I can actually die again, but still I'd like to avoid that with my best.

I can assure any living souls out there that it is never a pleasant experience. I think Lucifer will agree wholeheartedly with me.

"The Laws? _Your _laws do not affect people like me, Kurapika. We are non-existence people. _Your _laws are inconsequential to me." Lucifer gives her another smug grin.

I can't help but to roll my eyes: he knows perfectly well that the girl has something against smug expressions.

"But what about ME?"

"You are considered dead, Kurapika." Lucifer says evenly.

"Nostrad knows I'm alive!" She hisses belligerently at him—that's one of her specialty.

"Generally and globally, you are a dead person. Nostrad is a special issue. Thank you for bringing up the subject. Remind me to take care of it later."

"You, you—you selfish prick!"

Anyway, I think they are arguing something about barging into an unoccupied house and using it as our temporary lodging. I don't see any problems in that, as long as we don't leave any traces of us ever being here, but Kurapika and her sense of justice and conscience can be quite a handful sometimes. It makes things unpractical most of the time.

They continue arguing and quarrelling about the same issue over and over again. I don't know why they decide to hold the fight in the kitchen, in front of me. I guess they need some sort of audience, who knows? I don't mind the entertainment, for sure. Maybe it's just like in those soap operas or dramas where couples tend to wage full-scale marital quarrels in their kitchens, where they can conveniently grab many relatively dangerous items to be used as make-shift weapons—spatula, frying pans, forks, spoons, butcher knifes, dough rollers, and the list goes on. I have been hoping to see real-life flying frying pans, perhaps this time is my chance. Oh, I think I see Kurapika standing near the frying pans hangers. I'll be better off doing something else before Kurapika decides to target me as her stress-reliever. Scary…

I scoot towards the cabinet and rummage through the things there. I find some instant coffees sachets. The owner of the house won't notice a missing instant coffee sachet, will they?

"What do you think you are doing?"

Crap.

Stealing a glance over my shoulder, I see Kurapika glaring at me with suspicion-filled eyes. Lucifer is looking at me with quizzical eyes. No doubt he is expecting me to answer her with some lame excuses.

"Em…Making instant coffee?" A squeak is all I can manage.

Kurapika narrows her eyes into dangerous slits.

"Look here, Kurapika, it's not like they will notice it if they are short one sachet of instant coff—"

"Who says I'm against it?"

"_Ce_? (what?)"

Lucifer is obviously as taken aback as I am, seeing that he grants the girl with one raised eyebrow and a subtly shocked expression on his usually stoic face. Kurapika strides across the kitchen floor directly towards the cabinet where I have discovered the instant coffee. Wordlessly, she takes one and begins making a mug of instant coffee. Meanwhile, Lucifer and I have been staring at her like some thunder-stricken rabbits.

"I thought you are against staying in unoccupied house?" Lucifer finally breaks the silence. He folds his arms across his chest and gives his characteristic smirk. Oh, I see troubles coming. Time to take some safe shelter.

"I am." Kurapika answers curtly.

"So why are you stealing some instant coffees now?" Lucifer asks again as he carelessly approaches Kurapika—the Kuruta time-bomb, in my personal opinion. You never know when she'll explode.

I'm already at the other side of the kitchen table, so I'm relatively in a safe spot to watch the coming disaster.

"Like Lucian said: it won't really make a difference. I will take one only, and I will pay."

"We are not supposed to leave behind any traces of us being here, you know."

"Shut up, will you? You are making my life so hard!" Kurapika snaps as she blindly reaches for a pot that she supposes contain sugars.

"Touché. So what are you going to do?" Lucifer keeps pestering her.

Oh, I see the girl's anger-aka-pissed-off-o-meter reaching the limit. That is so obvious since she starts stirring the coffee so fiercely that she's making a mini black tornado inside the mug. No good. Glancing around, I decide that behind the kitchen counter is a safer spot.

"Keep quiet and let me think!" She practically yells at him, but it doesn't bother Lucifer at the very least. Looks like he has toughened up due to exposure to her yelling at daily basis. Poor guy.

Lucifer only shrugs and leans against the kitchen table casually as he pockets his hands. He waits and observes her as she sighs heavily, closes her eyes and chug down an enormous gulp of that instant coffee. It looks as if she is in need of caffeine to boost her energy in her attempt to have another round of verbal spar with Lucifer. I will never understand their version of entertainment. Like I said before: weirdos…

Apparently, that is a very, very, much regretted move.

Kurapika's eyes instantaneously snap open and in less than a heartbeat she spurts out whatever is inside her mouth—in other words, the remaining coffee that has not made its way into her throat. Kuroro jumps in pure shock and surprise, luckily evading the tirade of black water and thus preventing any stains from his clean shirt and pants. Me? I can only gawk.

_Ce dracu '_? (What the hell?) Whatever in the blazing hell is happening?

"What's wrong now?" Lucifer asks as he observes Kurapika, who is now busy in her tearful coughing fit.

She lets out a whimper and her eyes are wide in pure terror. When she has spitted the remaining liquid in her mouth, all graces and poises forgotten, she immediately goes to the pots and checks the content of the pot that she has distractedly used for her coffee. Her face visibly blanched when she peers into the pot and she even chokes a squeak.

"What's the problem?" Lucifer asks gingerly, still in his fixed, clean spot. The kitchen floor is virtually flooded by Kurapika's 'spilled' coffee.

Curious, I peer from my hiding place and with my enhanced vision—that is one bonus of being a vampire—I know what the problem is. Hoo boy…

"_Fata, _you used salt instead of sugar?" I exclaim without second thought.

Lucifer looks at me in undiluted surprise, and then to Kurapika. The girl's face is already blushing furiously upon knowing that how foolish she must look now. A deeply amused smile tugs at Lucifer's pale lips.

"I see. I bet you won't be able to get even a wink of sleep tonight."

"Why do you sound so happy?" Kurapika snaps at him, deeply irritated and embarrassed.

"Do I?" Lucifer gives her an innocent look, and the girl scowls. She immediately begins cleaning after the mess she has created, and Lucifer does nothing to help her. He is not the most charitable person she and I know, anyway.

"Well, at least there is a lesson I learn from this." Lucifer says when she is done cleaning.

"And that is?" She sounds disinterested, but both Lucifer and I know that she is anything but that.

"Never ask you to handle any cooking." He smirks. "You can't even differentiate sugars and salts."

Kurapika gives him an offended look.

"_Excuse me?_ For your information, if you haven't distracted me with your nonsensical quips and talks, I won't be mistaking sugars with salts!"

"So you really don't know how to cook then?" I pipe in, since she didn't deny the part about 'not letting her to handle the cooking' part.

Kurapika looks torn between screaming at me to 'mind my own business'—which is her favourite line—and admitting her inability to cook. I notice Lucifer's grin getting wider. That man always invites danger to himself, does he?

"No." She finally admits. "Since I left my hometown, I either stayed at inns or rented a room in people's houses for short term. They usually provided meals for me, so there was no need for me to do any cooking."

Lucifer snickers, and she glares daggers at him. If I were him, I would have jumped out of my skin or shrink indefinitely when given that kind of look. Looks like my _frater_ is already so immune to her harassment.

"How about YOU, mister?" Kurapika snaps, unwilling to be the only one lacking ability to cook. She knows that Lucifer takes pride in the fact that he is virtually all-knowing and all-capable. She can only hope to blow a bit of his pride in cooking skills.

"What makes you think I can cook?" He answers lightly in his usual no-big-deal kind of style.

Kurapika looks immensely disappointed with his lack of defensive attitude. My kindred spirit, that _fata _really is. It's so damn hard to bait some interesting emotions or reactions from Lucifer.

"In my free time, my lifestyle isn't that different from yours. In fact, whenever I assume the scholar role for Abelard Constantin with him," Lucifer nods at my direction, I give him one raised eyebrow, "I stay in a dorm and our meals are cooked by the matron."

"Figures…." Kurapika muttered spitefully.

They then decide unanimously to retreat into their self-proclaimed bedroom. I have always wondered why it's so hard for them to get along nicely without quarrels. They make such a cute couple—something I must never mention in front of Kurapika otherwise she'll skin me alive. Then again, that's the same as asking a pig to fly, isn't it? Yeah right, Kuroro Lucifer and Kurapika Kuruta in lovey-dovey mode. That's the day the sun rises from the west.

Oh, and no flying kitchen utensils this time. Darn.

* * *

"Offer homage to the people of the Kuruta tribe…"

"..."

"Let our blazing Scarlet Eyes bear witness…"

"…"

"Sun in the sky, trees upon the ground…"

"…"

"Our bodies are from the Earth…"

"…"

"Our souls come from the Heavens above…."

"Kurapika."

"Hm?"

"Can't you pray _silently_ in your heart? You've been repeating that for dozens of time."

"No."

"I'm trying to sleep here."

"So?"

"You are keeping me awake."

"Why should I care?"

"…Insufferable."

"Well, now you know how I sometimes feel about you."

"…I guess I can't blame you for that."

"We are you going?"

"Seeking salvation."

* * *

"And why are you coming to me in the dead of the night? Do I look like an angel of salvation to you?"

Lucifer is standing at my doorstep, fingers rubbing the bridge of his nose, obviously tired and is dying to get a decent sleep but unfortunately a certain vengeful Kurapika is absolutely driven to keep him awake all night. Kurapika is standing behind him, grinning herself silly while humming some random songs and looking as cheerful as possible. The sight sends a chill down my spine. Kurapika is rarely in cheerful mode—that only happens when she's drunk. She's either solemn, gloomy, grim, angry, cool, calm, _slightly_ happy, but _never_ cheerful.

Sweet revenge; that must be what is going on in her head. I can only shake my head in disbelief. That, plus the side-effect of that caffeine of DOOM. Mental note: never give Kurapika a concoction of caffeine plus salt—you are only summoning your own personal hellion.

"You are a night prowler. I believe I am not bothering you even at this hour of time." Lucifer says with a very unusual drowsy voice. I raise one amused eyebrow.

Kuroro Lucifer never sounds drowsy or slurry.

I glance at my wristwatch—3 a.m. Geez, Kurapika definitely knows how to hold grudge.

"Well, I am a vampire. Of course I don't sleep at night."

"What, so you don't sleep at all?" Kurapika asks, her voice unnervingly excited and joyful.

I almost cringe upon hearing her voice, but refrain myself from doing so for fear she may misinterpret that gesture and decide to spend her excessive energy on torturing me. That will be giving Lucifer an easy escape at my expense. No thanks.

"So what exactly do you require from me?" I ask after clearing my throat.

Lucifer gives me a hard glare, as if silently chastising me for my lack of understanding of the dire situation and the immediate solution it requires. Well, we have known each other for years and by right I should have known the general idea and the solution the moment he steps into my room all sleepy and tired with a hyper girl in tow. After all, I am not an imbecile. In fact, I can safely say that I have the same level of intelligence as those two.

"How silly of me. Fine, fine…"

I roll my eyes at my own thoughtlessness and begin rummaging through my belongings. My only concern is the girl in question. I give Lucifer one look, and he understands my message despite being sleep-deprived.

"When you are ready…" He says, not bothering to conceal the tiredness.

"Anytime, _frater_."

"What are you guys up to?" Kurapika chirps, still hyper and all.

She steps into the room, unsuspecting and like an innocent little girl—which is our greatest advantage of the moment! From the corner of my eyes, I see Lucifer tackling her, twisting her arms behind her back and pinning her down as hard as he can without breaking any bones. In response, I try to act as quick as I can but the girl still manages to thrash around in resistance for a few seconds.

Without wasting any precious seconds, I take out a syringe containing my self-made sedative and jab the needles into the flesh of her upper arm. Luckily she doesn't trash hard enough to break the needle. In no time, Kurapika lies motionless on the floor, the drug taking effect in her system and so giving peace to us at long last.

Sighing in relief, I let myself slid down to the floor while carefully extracting the needles from her tender flesh.

"Out like a light in no time. What is the dosage of your sedative?" Lucifer asks curiously. He looks at the sleeping girl with relaxed face, his visage looking less tired and strained. I dare to swear that I notice his fingers twitching a bit as if he's itching to brush a few strands of her golden hair from her face.

"Hmmm…_Să vedem_ (Let'see)… I think it's enough to sedate a full-grown werewolf in rampaging mode." I say with an uncaring shrug.

Lucifer looks up and gives me a very subtle look that says: I can't believe you'll apply such dosage to a human. Pfft. Like he is one to talk; I know his Benz knife is treated with a paralyzing drug that can easily paralyse a mature whale with only, say, 0.01 mg of it?

"_Termină cu prostiile_ (cut the crap), Lucifer. You need her sedated. I give you what you want. My drug is not life-threatening." I wave a dismissive hand.

Lucifer only shrugs, signalling that he more or less agrees with me. He gathers the Kuruta girl from the floor, and I daresay that he does that with utmost care. Not that I dare to utter a word about it, though. In this matter, sometimes Lucifer can be as dangerous as Kurapika is, though in less life-threatening extent. He walks quietly towards the door, about to return to their bedroom, when he tentatively stops at the doorway.

He spares me one last glance over his shoulder.

"Remind me in the future never to let her drink caffeine with salt added in it."

I can only snort in dry amusement.

"That is exactly what I've just told myself a few minutes ago."

Kurapika plus caffeine plus salt irrefutably equals to DISASTER. No doubts about it—it's a first hand experience after all.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__Well, another random event. It's based on inspiration by __**Ongaku no Usagi**__, regarding the question on whether they can cook or not. Well, there you go. I hope my answer satisfies you, and other people who're wondering about the same thing. This is only my version of the story though. I don't know the truth, that one you can ask the author himself. __And, Romanian-speaking people out there, did I use the correct words and sentences? __This is the first chapter that is ever written from a third party's point of view. It's kind of fun, especially since it's Lucian's perspective (that guy is another weirdo in the pack, he shouldn't have the right to call Kuroro and Kurapika weirdos) Any other suggestions, people?_


	8. Itsy Bitsy Spider

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter, still._

_**Setting**__: Any time during the 1001 Nights time period, after meeting Fino._

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_**ITSY BITSY SPIDER**_

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"Kurapika, I'm so very, very sorry! But can you please do help me?"

The said girl could not help but to stare at the humble country girl with wide eyes. Why in the deuce was the girl using so many repetitive similar-meaning words to actually ask for her favour? The first thing that came to her mind was that this 'favour' was not something that she would gladly enjoy or even do.

Hoo boy, how true she was.

"You ask me to WHAT?"

"Accompany Tobi for a while." Fino repeated with squeaky voice as she held the barely three-years-old toddler close to her bosom.

"You are kidding me!" Kurapika was close to shrieking, while Kuroro was secretly smothering a laugh behind her.

"Nope. You see, his parents are going away for the whole day and they asked me to babysit him. Apparently, my parents ask me to do some errands that will last for the whole day. You are my only choice, Kurapika."

Fino gave her the twinkling puppy eyes, pleading her to help her with babysitting. Kurapika took one step back inadvertently as the country girl started to shower her with _that_ kind of look. The corner of her mouth twitched uneasily, and from the underlying determination in Fino's bright eyes, she knew that the girl would not leave her to her peace until she conceded to her request—or more precisely, an errand.

AND even worse, the toddler in question was giving her that very same puppy eyes look.

_Damn those puppy eyes!_

"Fine…" Kurapika finally admitted defeat with slumped shoulders.

Fino squealed in delight, and so did the little boy as he sensed the joy sipping out of his handler.

"BUT!" Kurapika added hastily. "This once only! No second time, you hear me?"

"Okaaa~~~y!" Fino sang as she dropped Tobi into Kurapika's arms. Without further ado, she made her great escape through the entrance door of her inn.

* * *

Kurapika sat on the floor with the toddler Tobi preoccupying her with his silly demands. Kuroro was being a silent observer from his seat on the chair by the bedside. She had decided to babysit the boy in the confinement of their bedroom, and Kuroro had decided to see how good a babysitter she was.

After a few minutes of pondering on what to do with the toddler, Kurapika picked the classic way: nursery rhymes.

_The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout._

_Down came the rain and washed the spider out._

_Out came the sun and dried up all the rain._

_And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again_

As she sang along, Kurapika did the hand movements of the song to entertain the toddler. The little boy squealed in delight every time she twisted her hands for the 'the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout' part. He giggled and clapped frenetically, as if he was watching some very amusing performance.

Well, it was indeed amusing for someone like Kurapika—the ever serious, business-like Kuruta—to actually sing a nursery rhyme while dancing along with it. For Kuroro, this was one of the most amusing scenes concerning her. It was so entertaining that he could not help but to let out a soft chuckle.

Which was an utterly bad move.

Kurapika glared daggers at him. Kuroro looked away with his hand covering his smiling mouth; playing innocent. The whole babysitting issue was already embarrassing as it was, and Kuroro had to make it worse by actually laughing at her! That insufferable man! Tobi tugged at her sleeve to get her attention back. The Kuruta babysitter turned to look at little boy with uneasy smile, before they bloomed into an evil one.

"You know what, boy?" She cooed to him while scooping him up in her arms.

Kuroro was still looking away, drowning in his amusement that he did not notice the girl stalking towards him with the hyper toddler in her arms.

"Go and play with that big, bad SPIDER over her."

With that, she dropped the boy onto Kuroro's laps without warning.

The older man flinched when he felt the added weight on his laps. When he turned his head, he was rewarded with a hugely curious stare coming from a pair of enormous, dangerously inquisitive eyes. Flustered because he had never handled children for the life of him, he regarded Kurapika with a puzzled, quizzical look—which Kurapika responded with a thoroughly triumphant smirk.

Kurapika's mouth opened and she started to form a silent sinister word: _Enjoy_.

Then, with a squeal of delight, Tobi started pulling his raven hair. Unfortunately for Kuroro, he had not had the time to cut his hair so it was rather long for his standard. Out of reflex, Kuroro bent down so that the impact was less hurtful to his scalps, but again that was another wrong move.

Children tended to be especially curious about shiny objects—and Kuroro's deep blue globular earrings were exactly such things.

Again with a squeal of excitement, the little boy let go of his (amazingly) iron grip on Kuroro's silky hairs and started his assaults on those earrings.

Kuroro could not help but to let out a yelp of pain as Tobi yanked at one of his earrings roughly. Seeing that those 'interesting round thingies that hang from the big brother's ears' would not budge from their places, the boy then attempted to rip them off his ears. Kuroro grabbed Tobi's wrists hastily and most gently with least power possible so as not to accidentally hurt him—Kurapika would kill him dozens time over if that happened, before Fino had even time to complain—he tried to pry his little hands off his precious ears.

Kurapika, meanwhile, cringed when the boy yanked at Kuroro's earrings. She made the silent "Ooh", "Aw", "Ouch" sounds with her mouth but she still refused to come to Kuroro's rescue. If anything, the sinisterly amused expression was still stubbornly clinging to her face.

The Spider Head had managed to get the little boy's hands off his earrings for a split second, and he used that priceless opportunity to cover both his earrings with his hands. He was not bothered when Tobi started to pout and decided to climb his chest and arms in order to reach those 'shiny round things' again. Seeing that things were getting dangerous for the little boy, Kurapika finally rushed over and took him off Kuroro's body before he could slip and fall.

Tobi of course protested since he did not manage to accomplish his goal, but the unhappy pout immediately disappeared as soon as Kurapika gave him the chewing toy. In no time, Tobi was preoccupied with the next goal: chew the toy until it becomes unrecognisable.

"You could have just taken off those earrings, you know."

"I would have done so if I could." Kuroro said with slight irritation as he rolled his eyes, as if Kurapika was asking the obvious question. His ears were still throbbing.

"You can't take them off?" Kurapika's eyes widened in surprise.

"Anansi put them on me and he refuses to take them off. Not for the lifetime of his, he said." He frowned in displeasure as he fingered his globular earrings.

"You couldn't _make_ him take them off?" Kurapika asked again, dubious of the fact that Kuroro, for once, could not make someone do his biddings. That sly man always had many ways of deviously making people do errands for him, and most of the time the victims did not even realise that.

"Unfortunately, no."

Before Kurapika could add another comment, Tobi yawned in her arms and laid his head against her chest comfortably. Mother-instincts kicking in, Kurapika automatically rocked the toddler gently as she tried to lull him to sleep.

"You chose the one related to spiders deliberately, didn't you?" Kuroro eyed her with playful suspicions.

"That was the first thing that came to my mind. Lesson learned from that song: spiders are persistent lot—just like you guys are."

Kuroro raised an eyebrow, but made no comment about her so-called conclusion. He was pleased to detect no hostility in her voice as she spoke of spiders and his gang. It seemed that she was really beginning to let go of his hatred of Spiders.

"You could have chosen another nursery rhyme." He stated, deciding to entertain her further.

"Well, which else do you recommend then?" Kurapika asked with a 'hmph'.

"Don't ask me. I don't know of any single nursery rhymes. In fact, the one you sang just now is the first time I've ever heard."

Kurapika looked at him in wonder and disbelief.

"You have never heard of any single nursery rhymes?"

Kuroro raised an eyebrow.

"Do I look like someone who grew up with my mother singing nursery rhymes to me when I was a baby?"

Kurapika blushed. She felt like smacking her forehead at her own foolishness.

"Right."

Growing up in Ryuusei-gai was almost equal to abnormal childhood—which meant no nursery rhymes. She should have known better. After all, she had been travelling with a Ryuusei-gai citizen for close to one year.

"Besides, I don't think Ishtar herself knows of any nursery rhymes."

Kurapika froze in her spot. She had not thought of it.

"Sorry." She mumbled, abashed by her own thoughtlessness.

Kuroro only shrugged nonchalantly. "It doesn't matter." Kuroro averted his glance to the boy in Kurapika's arms. "He is already asleep."

Apparently, Tobi decided that their topic of conversation was meaningless and boring to him, so he decided to spend the rest of his day with taking nap. He snuggled close to Kurapika's bosom while he sucked at his thumb as per the typical old, die-hard habit of toddlers. With a soft smile, Kurapika pried his thumb out of his mouth and placed it safely away from the mouth.

Kuroro observed everything as Kurapika tended to the little boy.

"Looks like you are not suitable for babysitting, after all." Kurapika laughed lightly as she recalled the hilarious tug o' war of Kuroro-versus-Tobi.

"What do you expect?" Kuroro shrugged uncaringly, but fixed his dark eyes on her. "But you'll make a good mother, though a strict one, I wager."

Kurapika raised her eyebrows quizzically.

"Being a babysitter and being a mother are two different matters, Kuroro." She said rather critically.

"How so?" He asked, purely curious.

This time it was Kurapika who shrugged. "I just know it that way."

"Very vague." He commented half-heartedly. "But I take it you want to be a mother someday?"

"Of course!" She exclaimed, surprised that Kuroro would even question that. She was determined to preserve the Kuruta bloodline, of course she would have to reproduce. In other words, of course she wanted to have children.

"But your descendants won't be pure Kurutan anymore." He remarked.

Kurapika stared at him for a while, before she averted her gaze to the window of their bedroom. There was a faraway look in her eyes, and Kuroro could see that she was pondering over it.

"It doesn't matter. They will still be members to the revived Kuruta clan."

She chuckled softly.

"Let's just hope that my genes are strong enough to pass down the Kurutan traits on my children."

"Fair skin, light-coloured hair and eyes?"

"I suppose."

"Ridiculously high moral conscience and sense of justice?"

She whipped her head to his direction with clearly offended look on her visage.

"Is that an insult or a compliment?"

"Take it as a compliment. It's better for your health." He chuckled.

"Why, thanks." She said sarcastically while rolling her eyes heavenwards. Kurapika then involuntarily yawned as she still cradled the sleeping toddler in her arms.

Wordlessly, Kuroro shifted his chair to allow Kurapika a full access to their bed—they were given room with a queen-sized bed by Fino, with reason that the other rooms with double beds were occupied ("Excuses!" Kurapika had screamed indignantly at her). Nodding a silent gratitude, Kurapika climbed on top of the bed and put the sleeping burden in her arms to the centre of the bed before she lay down tiredly on the bed. In no time, she was out like a light.

All distraction gone (he did consider babysitting a distraction because of all the noises that the toddler was making), Kuroro decided to resume his readings—which only lasted for one hour before drowsiness started to assault him with vengeance.

_Sleepiness is really contagious_, he absentmindedly thought as he stole a glance towards the sleeping girl and toddler on the bed. He could literally feel his resolute crumbling.

* * *

"Hey, dad! Where's Kurapika and Tobi?" Fino asked as she waltzed into the inn, still brimming with energy despite the day-long errands.

"She brought him up to her room." The innkeeper informed her without averting his gaze from his accounting book. His brows were knitted into nasty furrows, and it worried his daughter from times to times. She was afraid that her father would soon turn into some wrinkles-plagued zombie, considering the way he struggled with his accounting.

"Thanks!"

Fino then hurried up the staircase and when she reached Kurapika's (and Kuroro's) room, she braced herself for the likely incoming complaints from the Kuruta girl. She knocked lightly on the door, but there was no answer. Curiously, she pressed her ears against the wooden door and heard nothing from inside the room.

_Strange,_ she mused.

As stealthily as possible, Fino then opened the door and stuck her head between the narrow space between the doorframe and the door. She only saw Kuroro's sleeping back on the bed. Befuddled, she tiptoed into the room. Tobi was notorious for his noisiness and loud voices, so why the silence?

When she stood near the bed, she then found her answer. Fino had to clasp her hands around her mouth to prevent the squeal from flooding out of her mouth. A big grin made its way to her youthful face. Before her was a scene that she had never imagined to see (though she did dream of ever seeing it)

Kuroro was sleeping at the side of the bed that was nearest to the door. On the opposite side was Kurapika with one arm protectively around the sleeping toddler; who was sleeping peacefully and blissfully between the two older people. Fino had once read in a book that males tended to feel more secure sleeping on the side of the bed nearest to doors and windows because that way they could protect their wives and children—it was a natural instinct that had persisted through generations since the ages of primitive humans.

_How true it is…_She mused as she observed the three.

An idea suddenly struck her. Fino tiptoed out of the room with more conscious efforts to be as silent as possible, even as she walked downstairs. Once she was on the ground level of her inn, however, her excitement got the better of her.

"DAD!"

"Fino, I'm not deaf yet. You don't have to yell to my face to get my attention." The innkeeper said, though still he did not avert his hard, vengeful gaze from the 'accounting book straight from the bowel of Hell'.

"Lend me your camera!"

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__Okay, guys. You see, some of the reviewers actually requested for Kurapika babysitting, and since babysitting reminds me of nursery rhymes, the first thing that comes to my mind is this "Itsy Bitsy Spider" song. Very suitable for Kuroro, no? Hehehe… Also some asked regarding his earrings. There you go. As for the ending of this little story, figure it out yourself. I don't think it's too hard to imagine ^^_


	9. A Fox's Wedding

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter (ever…)_

_**Setting: **__during their brief travel in Hanzo's country (which we'll prefer as Japan, I suppose), somewhere in Chapter 21 – Divinity, before they boarded the tortoise Genbu to cross the ocean._

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_**A FOX'S WEDDING**_

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It was a perfect day—no, scratch that—it was _the_ perfect day to go on a picnic or any outdoor outings. The sun was blazing brightly on the clear blue sky with no clouds to block its warm ray, and the heat was just perfect—not so scorching hot yet not too humid either.

The problem was: they were absolutely not out there for a goody-two-shoes picnic or the likes. They were out there to hunt down the remaining Scarlet Eyes scattered in the Eastern Land. They had the sufficient determination—in fact, it was more than sufficient, if not excessive—to collect everything in the shortest span of time possible. However, the presence of two certain mythical pictures simply shattered all resolution they both had.

Just because of their presence.

And their incessant nonsensical chatters.

And their harassment.

Yes. HARASSMENT.

And it was not happening just once or twice only. It was a repeated offense, and for once Kurapika was not the _only_ one who became the victim of said harassment—and she was totally happy for that.

* * *

"Seiryuu sure seems so taken by your girl, no?" Suzaku kept the gleeful smile etched on his face all the time while he observed the two mentioned people.

"She is not my girl. This is the 10th time of the day I've told you that." Kuroro responded with even voice.

"Hmmm…" It was obvious that Suzaku was not paying attention to the content of Kuroro's reply. "Are you not jealous? They are getting along so well."

"First of all, her relationship with anyone else is of no consequence or significance to me. Second," he took a quick glance at Kurapika and Seiryuu, "I honestly believe that they are millions of years away from 'getting along well'."

Kuroro's doubts were understandable, since any other people who saw Kurapika and Seiryuu would most likely guess that the male was annoying, irritating, bothering—you name it—the hell out of the young female. Kurapika had this very ominous expression on her face; like she was ready to pounce of a certain dragon incarnation and tore him apart to death the instant her biological emotional-fuse blew. Kuroro even swore that he saw the girl flexing her fingers in preparation for any necessary physical assault to the dragon incarnation.

"…and so it's best for you to immerse yourself as often as possible in onsens because the sulphur—"

"Oh, stop it already!" Kurapika was on the verge of yelling at him but out of respect (him being a dragon incarnation and member of the _Shishin_) she tried to control her voice. "I am already well aware and informed of all those knowledge so there is _absolutely_ no need for you to waste your breath and saliva trying to teach me things I've already known."

"Oh, you already know them?" Seiryuu's sapphire-blue eyes glinted with more excitement—which spelled as D-O-O-M for Kurapika. "That's wonderful! Now we can move on to a new subject!"

"AARGH!"

Kurapika did not even bother repressing her groan of exasperation and irritation. She flashed Kuroro a pleading look, telling him that "I'm in a deep shit right now and I really need you to get me out of this whole ordeal before I really lose my sanity and commit suicide". Kuroro caught on the message well, but refused to lend a helping hand. Instead, he gave her a wry smirk and that was all.

The Kuruta girl gave him a shocked and dismayed look first, before sending him one of her mega-ultra-piercing glare—which could have mutilated him many times over if looks could really harm things.

"My, my." Suzaku put a hand to cover his lips. "Looks like she is asking for assistance. Are you going to her rescue?"

"She can handle her own problems." Kuroro merely stated.

_Besides, I have my own share of problems._

That said, he had actually been trying to indiscreetly move his shoulder away from Suzaku's hand; which had been perching on his shoulder loyally like a parrot to his sailor's shoulder since God-knows-when. To his most profound horror, he discovered that the Phoenix incarnation seemed to be more attracted to _him_ than to Kurapika—which was very mortifyingly bad news to him. When confronted by a male-attracted-by-fellow-male kind of males, he was always reminded of Hisoka and his perversion on sexual orientation and preferences; not to mention his twisted 'methods'.

The mention of Hisoka's name alone already revived the most recent unpleasant memory of his encounter with the demented jester in his minds.

"Hands off!" Kurapika yelled while swatting away Seiryuu's outreached hand.

"I just want to touch your hair." Seiryuu reasoned defensively.

"Well, touch Kuroro's or Suzaku's hair if you feel like touching hair! Mine is definitely off-limits." Kurapika snapped at him rudely as she was on the verge of completely discarding all formality and respect for the mythical creature. Not that Seiryuu had actually done anything to really earn any definite respects from Kurapika, though.

"What if I want to touch only _your_ hair? Hm?" Seiryuu leaned towards Kurapika with a mischievous smile gracing his faintly-bluish-yet-still-looks-very-much-human-in-appearance face.

Kuroro rolled his eyes. Seiryuu was obviously flirting with Kurapika and he was obviously getting the opposite results he desired. Why the man persisted in flirting with the temperamental with dangerously-short-fuse Kuruta girl was really beyond him.

_The day Kurapika gives in to Seiryuu's flirting will be the day of Armageddon,_ Kuroro vaguely stated in his mind.

Kurapika deliberately let out a low snarl of a belligerent feline, but her hostility was soon cooled down.

Literally.

By a heavy downpour that happened in a blink of eye.

"What the—" She exclaimed in complete puzzlement when she suddenly found herself caught in the heavy rain.

Kuroro looked up in wonder and noticed that the sky was still the normal clear blue sky with no clouds whatsoever. The sun was still shining brightly and there was no sight of dark clouds at all anywhere in his vision range. Where in Heaven had the rainwater come from?

As fast as it had come, the rain stopped only after a few minutes. It gave the impression that the downpour had only been 'passing-by'. _How rude,_ Kurapika thought while mildly cussing the supernatural phenomenon. It seemed that anything—literally _anything_—could happen in that land. The presence of two mythical creatures that notably belonged to the Shishin tire made even more sense to the occurrence of the abnormal rain. Surely they had some explanation to it?

"Ah, the _kitsune no yomeiri_!" Suzaku exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah. It's been a while since the last time they have one, isn't it?"

Both mortals stared at the two Shishin creatures with looks of pure disbelief—although Kuroro managed to do so with much more grace than Kurapika did. Both Seiryuu and Suzaku were as dry as any dry fall leaves. It was as if the rainwater had not touched them at all.

"Why are you dry?" Kurapika finally voiced out her wonderment.

"Because we are what we are." Suzaku put an index finger on his cheek and smiled at Kurapika sweetly.

Kurapika gave a scowl as she understood what the Phoenix Incarnation had implied. Being members of Shishin, they were able to exclude themselves from getting affected by any magic from the local spirits or the likes. The Kuruta girl pouted begrudgingly and decided to focus her energy on squeezing the water off her shirt and jeans.

"What is _kistune no yomeiri_?" Kuroro asked as he was more intrigued on the cause of the phenomenal rain than grudging over the fact that both mythical creatures remained dry while they were soaking wet to the bones.

"It's basically a wedding between two spirit foxes, or _youko_ in our more specific terms." Seiryuu proceeded in explaining. "The sunshower from earlier is the sign that there is a wedding ceremony, or at least the procession, going on somewhere around the area."

Kuroro nodded in understanding his explanation and let the matter died down as he paid no further interest to it. Kurapika, on the other hand, was intrigued on the whole concept.

"So there is a wedding procession nearby? But I don't hear anything." She remarked.

"Oh, girl, you better not stumble into their procession or ceremony uninvited. It can cost you your life, you know." Suzaku put up his index finger and waved it as a warning no-no gesture.

"Yep. They can be really scary when it comes to interruption to their supposedly sacred events. It's better not to get on the bad side of those youko. They sure know how to hold grudges, y'know?" Seiryuu told them, all the while his eyes trained to Kurapika.

"I happen to know of a certain person who knows how to hold grudges for extended period of time as well." Kuroro said noncommittally, as if his words had not been directed at Kurapika at all.

The said girl of course noticed his indirect reference to her and so she sent him a dagger-sharp glare but said nothing. Seiryuu was still staring at Kurapika with a very focused look on his face. Suzaku noticed this first and asked him of it.

"Why are you looking at Kurapika like that, Seiryuu?" Suzaku asked with sing-song voice once he knew _what_ he was actually looking at.

"Hm? Oh, no…It's just…" A frown creased Seiryuu's usually smooth forehead as he seemed to try to look harder at Kurapika.

The said girl squirmed uneasily under his gaze. She was always nervous when people were focusing their attention on her. She really was not the spotlight kind of person. If anything, she loathed being on the limelight.

"Kurapika, when you shirt is wet like that…" Seiryuu spoke up with oddly slurry voice.

Kurapika's eyes widened and realised belatedly that she had been wearing a relatively _thin_, _white_ shirt. Oh, no. Bad omen. She was not going to like what Seiryuu had to say.

"…I can see that you are wearing white b—UMPH!"

Before Seiryuu could finish the last word 'bra', Kurapika had jumped from her spot and delivered a shockingly effective and deadly flying kick. She vaguely remembered her martial arts Master teaching her that moves in the past, and she was extremely grateful for her Master ever teaching her that precious move that managed to save some of her dignity.

The kick sent Seiryuu flying across the plain they were crossing and he managed to cover quite a distance with his unceremoniously graceless flight. When Kurapika landed on the flat ground, her face was redder than any lobsters, crabs, tomatoes, chillies—you mention it—that were bright red in colour.

Kuroro gave her an appreciating look.

"That," he started, "is a very nice move. I have never seen you using that before, though."

"…It's reserved for this kind of emergency." She muttered under her breath while she self-consciously shielded her chest from view with her arms.

"I see." He only managed to say, when he felt a sickeningly familiar hand brazenly touching his back.

"My, my. Kuroro, dear, come to think of it you are also soaking wet! You have to get a change before you catch any nasty cold."

Suzaku ran a hand along Kuroro's wet back and it sent shivers down Kuroro's spine. Instinctively and out of reflex, he actually _wriggled_ out of Suzaku's touch. If he had been less self-aware, he might have let out a yelp but he was Kuroro Lucifer after all. With a face that remained stoic as it could be—though Kurapika knew better that Kuroro was just as flustered as she had been when Suzaku started harassing him—Kuroro declared that they were going to get a change.

With that, he took Kurapika by her arm and rather hurriedly—which was so unlike him—dragged the girl out of Suzaku's view.

* * *

"I see that you are on the only one suffering from their molestation and harassment." Kurapika commented once she was sure that they were out of earshot.

"...So it seems…" Kuroro muttered unhappily.

"But I bet you are having a harder with you pride as a man. To think that you are actually molested by another man…" Kurapika could not help but to break a gleeful grin across her face.

"I believe so." He responded with dark voice. "That sick bastard reminds me so much of Hisoka."

Kurapika cringed as she remembered Hisoka and his perverted and twisted ways of doing things. Every encounter with that unpredictable, insane joker always left a bad aftertaste in her. She never liked dealing with that man. The last time she had agreed to cooperate with Hisoka was because she had been _desperate_ to get to the Genei Ryodan.

_Poor Gon…_She contemplated. _To think that Hisoka has his eyes on Gon…I sure hope Killua will protect him well from that perverted clown._

"But Suzaku is not even half as creepy as Hisoka is." Kurapika said absentmindedly.

"No." Kuroro interjected sharply and firmly. "They are both creepy in their own different ways. You will only know when you are in my shoes."

Of course. After all, Kurapika had not seen the obviously male-pride-threatening smile that Suzaku had on his face whenever he started 'groping' Kuroro.

Kurapika gave Kuroro one thorough measuring glance. Kuroro had been an expert of some sort in judging and evaluating people. If he deemed Suzaku as equally creepy as Hisoka was though in different way—she did not, or rather had not, noticed that yet—then it could only mean that Suzaku was even more dangerous than Hisoka was. After all, one could really see it when Hisoka was being dangerously perverted.

But Suzaku…was more dangerous.

Kurapika threw a tentative glance over her shoulder to the direction where Suzaku was supposedly waiting for them to get a change of their clothing.

Definitely more dangerous when he could conceal that creepiness from people's view.

Kurapika averted her gaze to Kuroro's back, who was leading the way and was wearing a slight expression of being downtrodden underneath that mask of indifference of his. If she thought of it that way, she really was feeling sorry for the man for the first time. After all, it seemed somewhat more shameful for a man to be molested by another man. Even more so when the molested one knew that he could do nothing against the offender because of the offender's high office or status.

Poor Kuroro—for him being the unfortunate, molested mortal and Suzaku being the supernaturally high-ranking molester.

She was definitely in a better condition than he was.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__A fox's wedding, or 'kitsune no yomeiri' in Japanese, is the supernatural term for sunshower (rain falling from clear sky where sun is shining brightly) phenomenon. This fox's wedding occurrence, and the sunshower that indicates it, is considered a good omen but the foxes will be hell-bent in taking revenge on those who stumble upon the ceremony—in other words, the uninvited guests. And sorry guys, for not updating once a week. You see, I've been busy with this cross-stitch project thingie that I intend to make as a gift for my parent's wedding anniversary. I also notice the lack of thrills or anything in this particular drabble. Sorry, my bad. Ah, and also remember the first time Suzaku tried to harass Kuroro? That was on Chapter 18 - Journey In The East, when he held Kuroro's hand and fingered the ring in a rather...inappropriate manner =P That was already the hint that Suzaku was not the goody-two-shoes guy he appeared to be._


	10. Sweet Revenge

_**Disclaimer: **__I still do not own HunterxHunter yet._

_**Setting: **After Phinks lost Kurapika's backpack in Ryuusei-gai in 'Chapter 24 - Lacrimosa'_

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_**SWEET REVENGE**_

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If one was to describe them, it would be "an odd combination of cool air and firecracker".

Kurapika's irritation was practically seething off her. She had one of the grandest scowl she could afford on her face, her stride long, determined and full of annoyance and anger. Her perfectly composed companion looked as if he was just taking a stroll, but curiously and creepily he managed to keep the same pace as the fuming mad girl. It was as if he was floating just above the ground instead of walking on it; his steps light and carefree.

"This is the last time." She warned with a low growl of a fierce beast.

"Hopefully." Kuroro responded coolly while he continued following her leisurely.

"The next time this happens again, I am GOING to strangle the life out of him. Definitely." Kurapika snarled while glaring at the empty street in front of her. If there were any pedestrians at that exact moment, they would have surely scurried away from her line of vision to avoid her deadly glare and to make way for the crackling 'firecracker' person.

"Have it your way." Kuroro again said lightly without even the barest hint of care towards his own Spider.

Yes, Kurapika was still magnificently wrathful over her demise of losing her backpack. The main reason was because a certain idiotically oafish excuse of a Spider was trying her patience. She had no idea on why he would want to hide her backpack, of all things. It had nothing inside it except for her meager belongings of outfits and—

Shit.

Kurapika put more pressure and strength in her steps, her stomps getting fiercer in every step she took. All mannerism and propriety forgotten in the trash bin, she began to curse vehemently under her breath. Kuroro did hear some of the words and he raised quizzical eyebrows. Kurapika ALMOST never cursed, and in those rare occasions when she did curse, the curse had been milder than his Spiders' mildest curses. This time, he did catch a few 'grand' curses coming out of her lips. How intriguing.

"A zenni for your thought?" He asked fearlessly.

"Mind your own business!" She said waspishly without even averting her deathly glare from the dirt on the street.

"Let me guess," said Kuroro with amused voice.

"Don't." Kurapika snapped.

Ignoring her, he continued on anyway. "Is it about your Hunter License and bank account book?"

Kurapika halted in her track and spun on her heels to face the raven-haired man. The Kuruta girl had a very deep frown etched on her forehead, and her oceanic blue eyes were searching for an explanation on his face but could find none because of the irritatingly thick expressionless mask of his. Kuroro stopped accordingly and regarded her with even look on his stoic face, though his lips did turn up slightly to form a faint smirk.

_Bull's eye._

"How?"

In full version, it would have been a "How do you know exactly what I'm cursing about?" Kuroro had been traveling with Kurapika for so long that he more or less knew of her way of thinking. Kurapika was not someone who would curse badly just because she lost some trivial, inconsequential, replaceable material possessions. Even if she lost some replaceable possessions, she would only get very upset to the point of cussing when those possessions could bring direct troubles to her. Logically, the only things that Kurapika possessed that might give away her identity and secrets would be her Hunter License and the bank account book.

"Don't fret about it. It's not like you can use that Hunter License anymore. As for the bank account book, you can easily take care of it." Kuroro said with an uncaring shrug.

Oh, how Kurapika really wanted to strangle the life out of this man before her. The Hunter License held a priceless sentimental value to her—it reminded her of the good time she spent with her three best friends. She could not care less about the bank account book. Like he said, she could easily take care of it. Then again, she remembered that this was Kuroro Lucifer she was dealing with—a heartless man who had no qualm in ending people's lives and getting his hands soaked in blood of innocent people. Of course he would not understand such concept. However, to think that she was walking and talking about such idle issues with that very same man right at the moment; the thought alone made her sick.

Despite sensing that the girl was troubled by something, Kuroro said nothing. He dared to wager that it had something to do with her moral conscience, or something along that line. If it was, he wanted nothing of it.

"Come on. We have errands to do." He merely said as he walked past her.

Kurapika had no choice but to follow in silence and her anger was somehow miraculously subdued. Unfortunately, it was replaced by a thick cloud of gloom and despondency that was hanging around her stubbornly. The reason for this depression was the objective of their 'errand': shopping.

After several minutes of walking, they emerged in a spacious open street with a long stretch of shops on both sides of the road. Since Phinks had lost her backpack, she practically had nothing to wear except for one pair of decent clothing and her sleeping outfit. In attempt to redeem himself, Phinks had offered to get her some new outfits, but she had flat out refused it—only God knows what kind of ridiculous outfits that idiot of a Spider would get her. In the end, Kuroro had forced her to go and buy herself fresh new outfits. Of course Kuroro was coming along; he did not trust the girl's sense of fashion. Besides, he was the one who was going to pay anyway, considering that she had lost her wallets.

"I have plenty to fund us both for the rest of our travel." He had happily informed her.

"I am not going to use any of your stolen money to get my things." She had responded snappishly.

"You have no choice in this circumstance, haven't you?" He had countered her with the winning smirk on his face.

She had growled at him then but said nothing further in retaliation. If anything, he was right on the money. Looking at the whole stretch of shops lining along the street, she felt even more low spirit than ever—those shops suddenly looked so intimidating to her. She was really not in the mood of doing any shopping at all.

"Do I really have to do this…?" She muttered to herself.

Kuroro turned to regard her. Her shoulders were slumped as if in a defeated state. Her eyes were downcast and the clouds of doom were still clinging to her. The scene was almost amusing to him, but having someone in such state tagging along with him was quite annoying after a while. Kuroro thought of what to do to get her to change gear, and one thought suddenly popped in his mind.

"You know," he started.

Perhaps Kurapika sensed the mischief in his voice, because she immediately raised her head and stared at him with wary eyes. True enough, he had that particular smile etched on his good-looking face.

"What?" She inched away from him.

"I just thought of something."

Before Kurapika could get away, he had approached her and leaned towards her to whisper something to her ears. When he had finished telling her of his idea, he straightened up and was greeted by a much cheerful face of Kurapika.

* * *

"Feitan."

The said man turned to look at the one who had called out his name; who was none other than Machi. She had a puzzled look on her normally glacial face, and she was staring at a certain eyebrow-less man. Phinks was staring at his bank account book with mouth hanging open so big that it could accommodate a whole turkey. She suspected that she spotted a few strands of white hair on his head.

"What is he doing?"

"Staring dumbly at his bank account book." Feitan answered flatly, though there was a tinge of cruel amusement in it.

"Because?" She asked with a frown.

"He went bankrupt."

"How so?" Machi raised an eyebrow.

"It seems that someone has had her sweet revenge." Feitan responded with a snicker.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ I know it's been ages since the last time I updated for this story. I've been focusing so much on my studies and the main installment of 1001 Nights and Angel's Prayer -_- So here goes one random chapter. I hope you know what has happened to Phinks' money =P I think Kurapika's kind of out of character here, by having such revenge but oh well… Let's just say Kuroro's being very persuasive to her at that moment. Hehehehe…_

_Any other ideas on what to write for this collection of drabbles?_


	11. Questions

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I do not own Hunter x Hunter, but I DO own Lucian and Meta and Fino. Muhahahaha! And I'm not making any financial profits outta this, so there._**  
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**QUESTIONS**

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Meta is a bright child. That is a fact, and there is no doubting it (because if I so much as voice a squeak of doubt about the aforementioned fact, I may end up prostrating myself at the feet of a certain livid blonde in order to spare my undead life, no kidding). However, it seems that there is a certain formula that dictates that bright kids have to be naughty. And mischievous. And are generally prankster-of-all-trades. And, and… Well, you get the idea. Get your thesaurus and look up for more descriptions to continue with the list.

If you so wish.

… I don't

_Anyway_. Having said all those, Meta has defined another whole level of mischievousness. His is bordering lethal, especially when it concerns ME, thank you very much. I don't know if it's because the little fiend has been hanging around Lucifer's shady gangs a lot recently, or Lucifer actually put things in his head or whether it's Kurapika, or whether it's just simply in the genes…oh. That is a VERY plausible explanation, considering his parentage. Hey, don't give me that look. You see how Lucifer and Kurapika are! Lucifer is just…well…Lucifer. With his irregularities and his off-the-kilter psychology. And Kurapika! She isn't any better. She's a Spartan woman who takes things to the Spartan extremes! And only God knows how Meta will turn out under their parenting.

Now see here. Seven years old of age, and he has almost driven me to my untimely and eternal, honest-to-goodness DEATH for ungodly number of occasions. And, Jesus Christ, he's known me only since he was five. So in the span of two years, I've almost died all over again for…I've lost count.

What? Am I not an undead already? Oh, no no no. This is another different definition of Death. Didn't I mention eternal? Vampires can die again. Yes, sirs and madams, you heard me right. We can die again. Always un-peacefully, if I may add.

"Luciaaaa~~~~~n"

Oh. Here comes the pretty little fiend (well, Meta IS pretty).

"Lucian!"

"Hm?" I hum in respond to his call without actually turning to face him, as I'm actually taking readings off my chemical apparatuses.

Right now I'm in my private, secret (not so secret anymore because practically Lucifer's family knows the existence of this place and how to get in here, dammit) laboratory that I've built somewhere in the depth of the woods in this mountain where Lucifer's family lives. I've set up booby traps of all sorts from the entrance of the passageway to my laboratory, all over the passageway itself, and at the gate to my laboratory, but God in Heaven above knows how this squirt managed to come all the way here without setting off any of the traps.

…Well, he's the firstborn of Kuroro Lucifer and Kurapika Kuruta.

Anyway. One more ingratiating thing about Meta is that he absolutely has NO sense of graciousness when it comes to me (as usual). He can just fire off potentially embarrassing questions to me without batting an eyelash.

"Do vampires fart?"

Questions like that.

I promptly put the delicate measuring instruments I have in my hands before Meta has any chance to shock me more with even worse questions. Those instruments are expensive, and I have no intention of drilling a hole on my wallet just because a brat is messing up with me. I turn around and give an ineffective glare at the blond boy, but he just stares back at me with that poker face that is infuriatingly identical with Lucifer's.

"Who made you ask that question?" I ask him with suspicion. Always have to be careful with this kid.

"Nobody. I'm just curious." He beams at me with that chilling c'mon-answer-my-question-or-you'll-be-sorry smile that I don't know whom he gets it from. Both of his parents DO NOT use this kind of tactic.

…Must be that Zaoldyck brat.

"What do YOU think?" I ask him back.

Meta purses his lips and drops his line of sight to the floor as he frowns and mulls over the question. It's one of the ways to distract the boy from something; by asking him of what he's thinking. He's a hard-core thinker, just like his mother is (although Kurapika is rather maniac when it comes to thinking).

Thinking that I've given him ample reason to be quiet, I turn back to my experiment. A few blessed minutes passed, and I begin to forget the squirt's presence in the laboratory. He soon breaks it in a way that only Metatron Lucifer Kuruta knows how to.

"Do vampires shit, then?"

Unfortunately, at that time when the question is hurled at me, I'm squeezing a delicate amount of delicately volatile and unstable substance to my solvent using an eyedropper. You see, I only need to put a drop of the substance to the solvent and voila! But nooooo~~~

Because of Meta's question, I press too hard and I basically squirt the entire content of the eyedropper into the solvent.

End result?

* * *

"Have you seen Meta?"

"Your kid? Nah. Haven't seen him all day long."

"Oh. Okay. Thank you."

"Don't worry, Kurapika. The brat knows the area here like the back of his own hands."

"Yes, I know."

Kurapika walks away and crosses her arms. Again, Meta has made his disappearing act and Kurapika is not so happy about it. It's not Meta that she's worried about, since she is well aware that the boy has received more than ample training in combat in all sorts of discipline; traditional martial arts, weaponries of all sorts, Nen—you name it. She is NOT worried about his well-being. The thing is she's worried that he has gone somewhere else and wreaks havoc wherever he is.

"I swear, this must be Killua's influence…" She muttered under her breath as she walks aimlessly around the town.

"Kurapika!"

Hearing her name, Kurapika looks up and sees Fino prancing down the street towards her with an empty basket in her hands. Seems that she's in the market for grocery shopping.

"Fino." She greets the younger girl back. "Have you seen Meta?"

Fino blinks, and then laughs.

"Again?"

"Yes…" Kurapika sighs.

"Well…I haven't seen him since the morning, but…"

KABOOOOOOMMMM

The ground shakes slightly as if a very heavy and massively huge object has been dropped from the rooftop of the tallest building in the town. Both ladies turn around to the source of the sound of explosion, and see a pillar of black smoke rising from somewhere in the woods near Kurapika's house—which now has been christened as their backyard garden; courtesy to Meta and Bia. The townspeople have started chattering about the explosion, but none of the go into panic. They've seen this phenomenon before.

"Well…" Fino turns to Kurapika. "You've found him."

Kurapika can only drag her hand down her face.

Evidently, Meta has just destroyed; inadvertently or on purpose she has no idea (not that it matters, actually), potentially half of Lucian's underground laboratory.

* * *

**_Author's Note: _**_Honestly, I don't know why I suddenly came up with the "Do vampires fart" question, but it just sounds so hilarious that I have to insert it in a dialogue with Lucian. And writing stories in Lucian's point of view is so interesting =P _


	12. Meta's Nen part 1: Inception

_**Author's Note: **Some readers have been asking for some stories about Meta's Nen, so here goes. This is part one of a short story about Meta and his Nen. Enjoy_

* * *

**part 1**

**INCEPTION**

* * *

Metatron Lucifer Kuruta. Firstborn of Kuroro Lucifer and Kurapika Kuruta. Grandson of Ishtar the Lady of Ryuusei-gai by blood, grandson of Anansi of Tichitt Walatta by adoption and self-proclamation, and great-grandson of Hatsubaba of Ryuusei-gai by adoption and self-proclamation. Godson of Lucian Virgiliu; young Count of Wallachia. The first Kuruta born since the Massacre of the Kuruta tribe. Grew up while travelling the world on a unicorn's back. Home-tutored academically and in martial-arts in childhood by Kurapika Kuruta (Double Stars Hunter), Gon Freeces (Double Stars Hunter), Killua Zaoldyck (Double Stars Hunter), Leorio Paladinight (Single Star Hunter). Sister with advanced Nen-user Bia (adopted). Playmate with members of Genei Ryodan; mostly Nobunaga Hazama and Phinks. Surrogate grandson of the owner of the Prancing Pony Inn, and the surrogate nephew of Fino; heiress of the Prancing Pony Inn.

That was the rough outline of Meta's 'familial' relationship; which is undoubtedly impressive in anyone's dictionary and definition. In the years to come, Meta would inevitably make a name for himself in the world to follow the example of his father and mother; in the Hunters world, as well as the Underworld (although Kurapika was immensely dismayed with the latter).

Considering his heritage, it was also unsurprising to see the little Kurapika-look-alike developing equally impressive Nen. Kurapika's Nen under certain circumstances allowed her to have full access of all types of Hatsu. Kuroro's Nen allowed him to steal other people's Nen skills; granting him a whole arsenal of powerful Nen skills.

Now, Nen was something that could be passed down the generation. It was genetic. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Meta would highly likely have a Specialization Nen type as his parents did. His Specialization, however, was also more special because it allowed him to bridge the unreal with the real; dreams, ghosts, spirits. Perhaps this was due to the 'impurity' in his blood that he inherited from Ishtar; he was inherently empathic, and so he had unusually high affinity with the abstract aspects of life: thoughts, minds, dreams. Transcending the abstracts and the unreal, Meta's Nen skill was indeed ominous.

In the coming years, Meta's Nen would become a huge arsenal for the Genei Ryodan; a division on its own, special and unique in its function—although he didn't join the group because Kurapika was vehemently against it and almost had high blood pressure because of it.. A part-time member, so to speak. However, when Meta first awakened his Nen at the tender age of seven, his life became hell.

Literally.

Because now he could see even more things than before his Nen was awakened. Apparently, the awakening of Nen could awaken one's senses more than normal. Also, Meta was a Nen genius; once awakened, it didn't take training for him to master it. Just like Neon Nostrade was able to do her fortune-telling naturally without undergoing Nen training.

"Meta, what's wrong?"

Meta didn't reply to Fino. He couldn't. She would freak out if he told her that he'd just seen a little imp flying past her head. That was what was wrong.

He had just found out, too, that those things that he saw were bodiless. They had no mass. Normal people couldn't see them because they didn't have substance for the normal eyes to see. Normal Gyo didn't work on them.

He wasn't normal.

They said that Nen skills were always within human boundaries unless certain conditions of the Limitations imposed by the Nen-user were fulfilled. They didn't know that Nen existed outside the human boundaries.

They didn't know that spirits were pure Nen. That there were advanced type of Nen; the type of Nen that wasn't supposed to be seen by the eyes of normal humans.

But he wasn't normal.

Not when in his blood there were traces of blood of a Medusa.

* * *

"Meta is seeing things?" Kuroro asked in reconfirmation with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes." Kurapika answered with her lips drawn thin, obviously frustrated though Kuroro had no idea why she was frustrated at him. He hadn't done anything lately. Well…Not anything that had to do with Meta, at least; since this issue seemed to concern the boy.

"What kind of things, exactly?"

"…Apparitions."

"Apparitions?" Both of Kuroro's eyebrows were raised now.

"…Ghosts, spirits. Fairies—"

"He has always been able to see them." Kuroro muttered offhandedly with a shrug.

"—_Demons_." Kurapika finished with sharp inclination in her voice as she said the last word, complete with a very suspecting look directed at Kuroro.

Kuroro stared at Kurapika, and Kurapika _glared_ at Kuroro.

"No. I have NOT used the Solomon Ring. And neither have I exposed him to any other stray demons that happen to be littering around the vicinity and around me." Kuroro declared firmly. Indeed, there were stray demons coming near him because of the 'smell' of the Solomon Ring. It attracted demons, and boy, wasn't Kuroro so pissed off when he first discovered it. And of course he took it out on Anansi—he flew all the way to Ryuusei-gai just to do that.

"This thing happens after he awakened his Nen."

"Ah."

"Don't you dare smiling at this, you fiend!"

It was just like any other days in the residential place that housed the family of Kurapika Kuruta and Kuroro Lucifer. Both happened to be at home at the moment; Kurapika having extended maternity leave to take care of the twins and Kuroro being on-break from his occupations. When at home, they were either doing their own respective hobbies, or 'playing' with the children, or romantically going after each other throat (terminology courtesy to a certain bored vampire count).

At this point, both Kurapika and Kuroro were already aware that Meta was of Specialization type. They also had checked the state of his Hatsu when his Scarlet Eyes were active, and it had slightly different feeling but it was still Specialization. They both had taught him the basics of Nen; how to control Ten, Ren, and the other basics. However, they hadn't guided him in how to shape his Nen. They hadn't had the time. His Nen was _supposed_ to be still 'shapeless'.

"Really, does this make any difference? He has always been able to sense and see this kind of things even before he awakened his Nen. Besides, 'seeing things' is not the politically correct phrase, since they are indeed real and not just figments of his overly-active imagination—which is indeed overly-active but that is beside the point." Kuroro stated, still with a tinge of playful note in his voice.

"If he just sees them, it's fine."

"Oh? And what else does he do with them? Making friends?" Kuroro asked with a smirk.

Even by the end of the day, Kuroro still didn't Kurapika's concern seriously. He offered carefree, devil-may-care remarks to Kurapika every time she voiced her concerns regarding Meta. However, despite Kuroro's feigned ignorance and nonchalance at the topic, he didn't ignore it. Kurapika had a habit of taking things upon herself and trying to solve things by herself. If she actually consulted him and asked for his help—albeit in the most indirect way—then she meant real business and was really at her wits' end.

Something was definitely up.

Or rather, Meta was up to something.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **This is only the beginning, folks... =D Anticipate the next chapter ^^_


	13. Meta's nen part 2: Midnight Excursion

_Part two of the story of Meta's Nen: in which Meta was caught amidst one of his clandestine midnight excursions._

* * *

part 2

**MIDNIGHT EXCURSION**

* * *

It was happening again, and it was getting annoying. Sometimes she would wonder why Kurapika didn't do anything about it, but soon enough she would recall that Kurapika didn't know _exactly _what was happening because she simply couldn't find out about it. Her Nen wasn't built to detect this kind of thing.

That, and Meta had specifically told her to keep it a secret from everyone else, even including their parents.

What a bother…

However, she felt that this time it would be different. Meta wouldn't get away clean and he would get caught precisely tonight because Kuroro was there.

_Daddy will find out about this, and Mommy will found out about this from him, and we'll see how YOU like it, Meta…_ She grumbled in her mind as she turned on her bed.

Then she realised that it might not be the case. What Kurapika knew, for some reasons Kuroro always ended up knowing about it soon enough. What Kuroro knew, however, Kurapika didn't necessarily know about it until she discovered it either by accident or pure obstinacy and sheer determination. Worse still—or better still for the children—Kuroro was usually their partner-in-crime, provided the said crimes were to his taste.

During the times when he found out about their plots (which were usually Kurapika something wouldn't like)—and most of the times he _always_ found out about it, Heavens knew HOW—Kuroro actually participated in their scheming. He would added more into the plots and even taught them how to refine said plots to make them almost flawless, although he usually left the execution—and the most fun part—to the children while he would sit back and enjoy the unfolding pandemonium.

At rare times, he would report them to Kurapika and that would be the end of their pranks for the week.

But the pranks continued at the end of their 'time-out Kurapika's style' anyway.

So, in light of Kuroro's tendency to side with Meta in his evil little schemes, Bia decided that she had to do something.

* * *

She woke up with a start. No, it wasn't a nightmare; she hadn't had nightmares for a few years now (she wouldn't admit it to Kuroro—that prying bastard—even when her life depended on it but her nightmares stopped ever since she started settling down and having this steady home). It was more like a prickling to her skin; a sensation that she had long recognised as her mother instinct kicking in and demanding not to be ignored. Something was up.

Again.

It had been happening for quite several times, notably since Meta awakened his Nen. She had tried checking on him when this kind of instinct kicked in, but she couldn't find anything wrong with the boy. She always found them sleeping and nothing else.

"Did you feel it?" A soft voice came from the other side of the bed.

And if she was to think about it more, it always happened when Kuroro was away. This was the first time this thing occurred in Kuroro's presence.

So Kurapika's wasn't surprised to see Kuroro up and awake next to her. He was as alert as he was during…well, any other time when it required him to be alert. Otherwise, he would be the laidback man he always was.

"This isn't the first time."

"No." Kurapika shook her head with a sigh and took the blanket off her.

Partially ignoring Kuroro, Kurapika marched to the children's shared bedroom. Kuroro followed closely behind her, mostly curious about the circumstances and not the least bit wary because he had observed that Kurapika wasn't too alarmed. She just seemed more annoyed than anything else, so there was no need for him to get all tensed over nothing significant.

When they entered the children's room—in the quiet, Zetsu-mode manner that the children hated because usually they couldn't detect the incoming presence and so they usually got caught having all-nighters planning one of their diabolical pranks—it wasn't as how Kurapika had expected. The twins were sleeping soundly and Meta was on his bed, but one occupant of the room wasn't where she was supposed to be at that late hour of night.

"Bia, what are you doing?" Kurapika whispered as she went over to the said girl, who was standing by an open window in just her thin sleeping gown.

Bia simply stared at Kurapika with her expressionless face, but her eyes glimmered in a quiet satisfaction. She didn't answer Kurapika, and instead cast an expectant look at her adopted father.

Meanwhile, Kuroro went to the bed that Meta occupied. Something felt wrong with it. He bent over and observed the boy's sleeping figure. Nothing seemed wrong to the naked eyes, but his left eye—the one with True Vision—tingled. Kuroro covered his right eye with his hand so that he could only see with his left eye; that way, he could concentrate his True Vision better.

"What's wrong, Bia?" Kurapika intended to close the window, but the girl wouldn't let her.

"It's empty."

"What?" Kurapika turned around to Kuroro; who was still bending over Meta.

"He's empty." Kuroro straightened up and stared right into Kurapika's bewildered aquamarine eyes. "This body is just an empty husk."

"W, wha—but—w, how—"

While Kurapika was spluttering nonsenses; her brains still trying to load and process what the heck Kuroro was talking about, the latter took some long strides across the room towards Bia and knelt before her.

"Bia. Where did Meta go to?"

Bia stared into his father's onyx eyes; seemingly to read them. After a while, she raised a finger and wrote in the air with her Nen:

"**To the forest**…"

"Good." Kuroro ruffled her white crown briskly yet gently before he stood up and made a beeline for the door. "Kurapika, you stay here with the children."

"W, what—No! I'm coming with—"

Kurapika had just taken a step towards the door, but Kuroro spun around on his heels by the door and fixed Kurapika on her ground with one hard look.

"Stay here," was all he said before he opened the door and vanished into the darkness.

The Hunter was speechless for a moment—Kuroro rarely did that to her. He only gave her that kind of expression when things really mattered and it was impervious that she followed his orders because he obviously understood the present circumstances better than she did, all things considered. Soon enough, as how old habits dictated it:

"Asshole!"

She forgot that Bia was there; wide-awake and _listening_.

* * *

Kuroro ran towards the direction of the forest—which was now unofficially their backyard because the children spent so much time playing there it became their playground—and he wasn't surprised to see a black-horned unicorn standing at the edge of the forest; her pearly white body glittering unearthly in the darkness of the night and under the shade of the trees.

"Una." Kuroro greeted the young unicorn.

The unicorn nodded once as she turned around and started jogging into the depth of the forest. Without missing a beat, Kuroro fell into Una's pace and ran at her side.

_Father sent Una here_, she explained shortly. _We saw Meta walking into the woods, but he is different._

"I know."

_What is happening?_

"Astral projection, most probably. Meta has always been sensitive to spirits. His Nen enhances and revolves around it. He's now exposed to all things that concern spirits."

As Kuroro followed Una's lead to Bara; who had been following 'Meta', he then recalled the list of things about Meta that had been unsettling since the boy awakened his Nen: he talked to empty air, he went missing for a whole day only to come back all dirty beyond belief (even worse than when he had been wrestling with either Nobunaga or Phinks), he could know what was happening at the moment on the other side of the town, he start predicting things that turned out to be accurate, he started to know things that he shouldn't know as nobody was teaching him and it wasn't common knowledge in the first place (even some of those knowledge Kurapika didn't know about them beforehand), and so on and so forth. Kurapika had told him all the abnormal things that Meta started doing since then—although Meta actually always did abnormal things—and the more Kuroro thought about it, the more he was convinced that the boy really couldn't properly control his Nen yet.

Most people would worry about the fact that their child was losing control of their Nen at such young age.

Kuroro Lucifer was _excited_.

If Meta couldn't control his Nen, in Kuroro's definition that simply meant that the boy's Nen was exceedingly powerful and that was nothing less than pleasant news for the Spider Head. Besides, there was nothing to be worried about yet. They had discovered the symptoms at early stage, so it wasn't too late to train the boy how to fully utilise and harness his Nen. Kuroro couldn't help but to grin like a fool (or like a maniac, as how Kurapika would aptly put it) at the prospect of measuring the potential of the boy's—_his_ boy's—Nen and building it up into something absolutely magnificent.

Now another thing that he wondered about was how on Earth did Bia manage to see Meta's spirits? She had not a drop of Isthar's blood in her system. She was just a normal human girl.

_There. _

Una's soft voice broke Kuroro's train of thoughts, and he looked up to see Bara lying down perfectly at ease at the edge of a clearing. Una slowed down her pace, but Kuroro hastened to approach the black unicorn. He had a hunch that the old mythological horse had some knowledge in this phenomenon.

_**Ah, there you are, lad. Finally you are here to get the kid out there to learn how to control his Nen. **_The black unicorn greeted Kuroro casually with a tilt of his great head and a swish of his tail, and a smile that only a horse with humour like Bara's could pull off.

"I'm afraid I don't actually know what is going on." Kuroro said with equal casualness as he stood next to the renegade unicorn, and with his hands customarily stashed into the pockets of his pants. "And you are saying that this is not the first this has happened before."

Bara snorted gleefully at that as if Kuroro had just said a silly joke that was uncharacteristic of him, while Una—who had come over to Kuroro's side so that the human was flanked with two unicorns—tapped her hoof uneasily at the soft earth.

_**Nay, lad. This ain't the first time for sure. Been happening for quite some time, and your woman couldn't do anything about this. Every time the kid there pulls off this stunt, by your rotten luck you were always away God-knows-where. And don't give me the crap about 'I don't know what's going on'. You KNOW what's going on, otherwise you won't be here**_. Bara said smugly as he blew through his nostrils at Kuroro's face; mocking him.

"I'm only here because Una guided me here, and because Bia told me that Meta has gone to the forest." Kuroro admitted as he casted his dark eyes to the clearing, to where 'Meta' was.

Only that 'Meta' didn't really look…fleshy enough—in the sense that he looked just like an apparition of a ghost. He was semi-transparent, and his outline was blurry. When he moved, there was a faint afterimage following his movements. Also, he seemed to be interacting with something but Kuroro didn't see anything else in the clearing except for the boy.

_**Oh? The little white princess did?**_ Bara didn't even bother to conceal the utter astonishment in his voice. _**I always think that little lady is rather creepy, but this tops it off. How exactly did she do it?**_

"That's what I want to know as well." Kuroro shrugged rather noncommittally, and made a mental note to dig through Abelard Constantin's rare collections—the duke's library was delightfully complete, even with literature materials that concerned occults and the likes—and to consult Lucian later. Eccentric and rather moronic as he was, the vampire was credible and surprisingly reliable for this kind of thing. "What is Meta talking to?"

Bara raised an eyebrow.

_**You can't see 'em?**_

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__Nuh-huuuuh! Meta is seeing something that Kuroro can't see! What are they? Read the next chapter to find out! Hehehe… And poor Kurapika, always getting left behind in this kind of thing just because she was more normal than the rest of her family was—excluding Bia. _


	14. Meta's nen part 3: Dragged Back Home

_Part 3 of the story about Meta's Nen: in which Meta was dragged back home by Kuroro and was about to face an impending doom that was rightly dubbed FURIOUS MOTHER._

* * *

**part 3**

**_DRAGGED BACK HOME_**

* * *

The tone of disbelief was evident in the black unicorn's voice, and he didn't bother to tone it down. He sounded as if Kuroro had just said that he didn't know the answer to 1+1. As a response, Kuroro merely rolled his eyes as if Bara was being an imbecile.

"If I could see them, I wouldn't have asked you."

_**Yeah, right. A smart-ass like you. Should've known.**_ This time it was Bara's turn to roll his eyes. _**You have the God-forsaken Solomon Ring with you? If you do, look through it.**_

Kuroro tugged at the chain of the necklace that he wore around his neck all the time and pulled out the brass ring that hung on the metal chain. As soon as the enchanted ring was out in the open, suddenly there was movement in the clearing and Kuroro could see from the corner of his eyes that Meta had spun around and turned to face the direction where Kuroro was standing. Kuroro looked up and his eyes met with Meta's. The boy seemed utterly surprised to see his father standing there, flanked by the family's unicorns (as how he liked to put it although Bara had been initially irate when he first heard of it).

To be honest, Kuroro couldn't be helped to get slightly ticked off that it was the Solomon Ring again. Nothing good ever came from dealing with the ring.

Nonetheless, following Bara's advice, Kuroro then held up the ring like a telescope and peered through it. He had the good sense to see with his left eye—the one with True Vision—as it would allow him a clearer sight on anything beyond normality. It was indeed a wise decision on his part, because as he peered through the ring, he saw with his left eye another plane of scenery that superimposed the normal landscape that human eyes saw. It was as if two film negatives had been overlaid together and projected. Meta was there standing where he was, but he looked perfectly real as how he was normally. However, he wasn't alone; he was surrounded by an assortment of…creatures.

There were creatures that Kuroro couldn't identify, but most of them he could roughly categorise as demons and fairies. They didn't look harmful enough for the boy, but there were some that he thought looked a bit too evil to be hovering so near his boy. They were all looking at him; the demons with a blend of curiosity and resentment—probably at the Solomon Ring. Again—while the others were simply curious. There were some fairies that were either bold or friendly enough to be sitting on Meta's shoulders and head.

However, Meta's surprise soon turned into the oh-no-oh-shit-I'm-discovered-so-it's-high-time-to-scram-now look. Needless to say, with the agility of someone who had been trained by three professional Hunters since childhood and was playmates to a group of S-rank criminals, Meta made his escape into the other side of the wood further from Kuroro and the unicorns.

_**Oh, there he—**_

A brief moment somewhere on Bara's side, a gust of wind, a rustling of grass, and a squeal of a pipsqueak, and soon Kuroro returned to the centre of the clearing while holding Meta in one outstretched hand by the scruff of his pyjamas.

—_**goes…**_ If a unicorn could facepalm, Bara would've done it.

_How come Kuroro can touch Meta? _Una asked in an exclamation.

_**Well, the lad is NOT so much of a normal human. But still… One can't help to wonder what will happen if a partially-human like him was to interact with those folks… **_Bara drawled with a maniacal grin on his face that alarmed Una.

_Father, please do not attempt to make it an experiment right now,_ she pleaded to him.

_**Why not? **_Bara had the indecency to sound disappointed at Una's lack of support to his idea. _**It'll be fun!**_

_It'll be disastrous!_

_**Bah. He can handle it.**_

_Father!_

"I AM SORRY!"

The arguments of the unicorn father and daughter were interrupted when that scream of apology came echoing across the clearing. They looked up and saw that Meta was still dangling by the scruff of his pyjamas, and he looked exactly like a cub that was about to be thrown off a cliff by his parent. Meanwhile, Kuroro was exuding a deliciously intimidating aura that effectively kept the creatures some distance off him and the boy. Bara let out a whistle of admiration at the display.

"Well?" Kuroro asked with scarily calm voice.

"…uh…" Meta began to twiddle with his fingers. "Well…"

_**The guy does sound like he's going to eat the kid if he gives the wrong answer,**_Bara snickered, and earned a glare from his daughter.

"How long has this been going?" Kuroro asked again.

"…A week…give and take a few days…?" Meta gave him an uneasy smile that was slightly crooked.

"You understand what is going on?"

"…I…guess?"

"Good. We are going to go home and you will tell us what has been going on." Kuroro said and began walking towards the direction of their home without putting Meta down.

"_Us_?" Meta _squeaked._

"Yes. Including your mother." Kuroro still had the gall to smirk at the boy's obvious horror.

"Urgh…Please no. She's going to _kill_ me." Meta pleaded to his father pitifully.

"Indeed."

Bara let out a full-out chortle at the 'procession' until Una had to irritably slap him on his flank with her tail to make him stop making such a big scene over it. Of course Meta took the time to glare at the black unicorn for the humiliation, but his cute glare just made Bara hoot with laughter like demon-possessed (although he WAS demon-possessed, albeit him being the one in-charge).

Bara's laughter could still be heard as Kuroro and Meta walked through the forest towards home. All the while, Meta was sullen while still dangling by Kuroro's hand.

"You shouldn't be able to touch me…Not fair…" The boy muttered very lowly, but Kuroro could still hear him.

"Is that so?" Kuroro made his tone sound especially intrigued as cue for the boy to _explain in details and not to miss out any single thing._

"Yeah! I mean, I'm a spirit right now! Humans shouldn't be able to see me, much less touch me!" Meta exclaimed in indignation.

"Unfortunately for you, _I_ am your father." Kuroro chuckled, mostly at his son's frustration.

"So?" Meta was still sulking.

Kuroro stared at the boy's golden crown of hair. He resembled Kurapika so much, except that the hair was of slightly darker shade and his eyes were more like his than hers.

"Well…" Kuroro drawled, stretching his words to tease the boy, "I am not a normal human."

Perhaps he wasn't supposed to be telling the boy that piece of information because Meta had stopped sulking and turned his head to stare at his father in disbelief, with the you're-pulling-my-legs look on his face.

"Seriously?"

…Kurapika was oh so going to go after his throat again.

* * *

Needless to say, Kurapika was LIVID.

Actually, she had been livid even before Kuroro reached home with a dejected Meta in tow. At first Kurapika couldn't see Meta's spirit, but when Kuroro passed her the Solomon Ring, she could see him. Kuroro figured that since Kurapika had a bit of Isthar's blood in her, holding the Solomon Ring should allow her to see the boy's spirit and he had been right. And boy, wasn't she FURIOUS. She didn't even have the patience to let the boy return to his body and immediately scolded him then and there.

"You and Bia! The two of you will be the death of me!" Kurapika shrieked as she threw her hands heavenwards in utter frustration.

Kuroro; who had been sitting on the sofa while watching Kurapika going PMSing-Mother-Behemoth on the children, turned to Bia with one raised eyebrow.

"What have you done this time?" He asked her with light tone of amusement.

("WHY DO YOU SOUND SO AMUSED, YOU BASTARD!")

"**I know all along about Meta's ability and midnight excursions and I didn't tell any of you.**" Bia said with a shrug—she didn't look like she had been _and_ being scolded. Nor did she look repentant in any ways.

"Because?" Kuroro couldn't withhold a smirk because he knew _why_.

"**It's more fun that way.**"

Kuroro roared in delightful laughter while Kuroro roared an indignant "FUN! KURORO LUCIFER, THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

* * *

_**Author's Note: **Poor Kurapika, always getting angry. One day she'll have problems with her blood pressure and heart. Reviews please! ^^_


	15. Meta's Nen part 4: Explanation Please

_Part 4 of the story about Meta's Nen: in which Lucian was dragged into the mess and everyone demanded for a sensible explanation._

* * *

**Part 4**

_**EXPLANATION, PLEASE!**_

* * *

Lucian Virgilliu was a full-fledged vampire. He was the sole successor of the countship of the ancient-yet-still-alive Wallachia. He had lived for a few centuries, and had travelled the world several times. He had centuries' worth of knowledge inside his undead brains. He had full access to many questionable and obscure and never-known-before libraries all over the world.

Still! That didn't mean he knew the answer to everything.

And Kuroro Lucifer certainly didn't understand that.

"Lucifer, how many times do I have to tell you, _pentru numele lui Dumnezeu_ (for God's sake)? I am just a pharmacist! Apothecary! I'm NOT a physician, nor am I a psychist or a walking encyclopedia-of-the-supernatural. Don't ask _ME_!" Lucian threw his hands heavenwards in frustration.

Why was it that Lucifer seemed to always forget about his tiny little bit of information? Couldn't his genius brain process it or what? Maybe he just simply refused to process it.

… _Nemernic_ (The asshole).

To make long story short, Kurapika had summoned him to her residence—in which he had no choice but to obey unless he had a death-wish; which involved Kurapika unleashing a rabid Meta and Bia into his delicate laboratory, which definitely would spell DESTRUCTION to said facility—and had been demanded to give explanations to circumstances that he had not a single freaking idea were happening.

In short, Kurapika was being irrational.

Which in itself wasn't so surprising, given that she was being neurotic _again_; which occasionally happened when her nerves were too frayed by the inhumane level and frequency of maelstrom that Meta—and Bia, sometimes—_somehow _ALWAYS managed to raise.

And Lucian wasn't complaining to Kurapika because he knew that it was Lucifer who had told her to consult HIM.

"Why Bia can detect Meta's spirits although she's just a normal human, you ask me? I'll be damned if I know WHY!" He fumed. "You ask her brother, for the love of the Lord! They have the exact same type of Nen, so HE should understand the nature of her Nen the best, not ME!"

"Lucian is in hysterics." Meta deadpanned.

"Shut up, squirt! I'm in hysterics because your father is a psycho and your mother is neurotic because YOU made her so!" Lucian grabbed the boy by his cheeks and started pinching them in frustration. None of the family members bothered to defend the boy because they all knew that Lucian would rather kill himself all over again than to hurt Meta for real, and because what Lucian had just stated was true (Kurapika: "I am NOT neurotic!").

In the end, Lucian only let go after Bia assaulted him with her trademark electrocution; which resulted in Meta getting electrocuted as well; which resulted in the children having arguments because of Bia's carelessness; which resulted in Kurapika sending them for 'time-out Kurapika style'—which involved standing in one corner facing a plain wall in a squat with an Encyclopaedia of All Living Things (which was damn thick and could've sent someone into heavy concussion should one be bludgeoned by the said encyclopaedia) on their heads and Nen-writing on the wall a hundred line of "I will not fight with my siblings"—which resulted in the twins getting agitated because of the ruckus; which resulted in Kurapika escaping to the Prancing Pony Inn to delegate the task of taking care of the twins while she took care of her rising blood pressure.

Which resulted in Kuroro dealing with a piqued Lucian all by himself in order to get explanation on the phenomenon that had just occurred the night before regarding Meta.

…It wasn't a big deal.

"Then what is your take in Meta's case?" Kuroro asked the irate vampire calmly. "I've asked Bara and I have consulted Abelard Constantin's library and other libraries but I haven't found anything that is sufficient."

"Phah. You've found something but of course by your insane definition of 'sufficient', none of them pass your sufficiency threshold." Lucian rolled his eyes and began ranting: "And I'm not surprised if Bara doesn't really know much. He's a renegade unicorn. A thoroughly black one, to boot. They are generally shunned by most folks because of the stereotype that renegade unicorns are evil—which isn't entirely baseless. Maybe Bara is the only exception, in fact. Still… That ill-mannered unicorn only knows how to pick fights with people, so I don't think he knows how to make friends with others, so how do you expect him to get information about this kind of thing? Heck, he might have heard of this kind of thing but he simply didn't give a flying shit about it, so he just forgot about it over time."

Kuroro listened to Lucian's rambling patiently. Lucian always rambled, but his ramblings weren't always useless. One could pick some very significant points amidst his nonstop, breathless ramblings if one was to listen carefully. Besides, Kuroro was simply used to this repertoire that was characteristic of Lucian.

"Meta's case is perhaps not the only one of its kind, though. In the past there were people born demi-god as Meta was—well, he's quarter-god, to be technically correct—and Nen has existed since God-knows-when. I won't be surprised if there are people with utterly weird and nonsensical Nen powers like Meta's. There are many creatures that have lived for so many centuries, but not many of them are reliable information source. Well….Demons have a lot of knowledge—"

"I am _not_ consulting the demons." Kuroro briskly intercepted.

"—but they are always a bunch of lying and conniving bastards, so I won't recommend them and YES I know you _absolutely_ don't want to have anything to do with them. Relax, Lucifer." Lucian waved his hands in a dismissing manner while rolling his eyes again. "So, you've got to find an information broker who's ancient enough to have aged thousands of years—preferably since the beginning of mankind—who's credible and will be willing to give you the information but the question is WHO?" Lucian finished his rambling while spinning his rotating office chair, and with arms folded across his chest and his head cocked to a side and a frown on his pale face.

Kuroro leaned back in his chair and observed Lucian's antics as the vampire racked his brains trying to find someone who fitted the criteria that he had just formulated himself. It was always amusing to watch the young count who didn't behave like a count most of the time.

"Why are you making a big deal over this, pray tell? You can just teach him how to control his Nen as you did Bia, can't you?" Lucian groused as he kept ransacking his brain.

"No. His Nen touches another realm out of this world. It is too precarious to extend and experiment with his premature Nen without knowing about the other side and the consequences of Meta meddling with them."

"Tsk. Head of Genei Ryodan and world-renowned S-rank criminal, and he's fretting SO MUCH over his little boy." Lucian muttered under his breath.

"You have seen how Kurapika frets about it." Kuroro chuckled.

"She's _insane_."

Kuroro's grin broadened and he couldn't disagree with the count.

"There is someone who fits those criteria." Kuroro finally said at length, and with a smug smile on his face.

"_Există_ (there is)?!" Lucian spun around to face his long-time friend so quickly that he ended up in a weird position. It was a position that looked as if he had a sudden, fatal stomach cramps in the middle of a dance.

"And why are you the one getting all excited over it?" Kuroro was still smirking.

"CINE (who)?!" Lucian's eyes looked like they almost jumped out of their sockets that Kuroro marvelled at the strength of his muscles that kept the eyeballs in place.

"Well…"

* * *

"Well, well, well. Look at who do we have here…"

Lucian stared.

And stared.

And stared.

Until Kuroro elbowed him in the guts quite generously.

"My. You still are the clueless boy ever, Lucian?"

"Shut it, Zada." Lucian grumbled as he nursed his abused stomach while attempting to slap his companion—but failed and his hand merely slapped empty air.

Scheherazade—Zada, as Lucian called her for short from Šeherzada; an alternative for her name—sat down on the carpeted floor, with her beloved oud cradled in her delicate arms and her graceful fingers plucking the strings of the instruments ceaselessly. She regarded Kuroro with a curious look, like a woman who was observing the neighbour's son who had grown up so much after not seeing each other for years. To Lucian, she simply gave him an I-see-that-you've-been-roped-into-yet-another-trouble look; which Lucian replied with a silent tell-me-about-it gesture.

"You are doing well, I see." Scheherazade nodded in satisfaction, and then turned to the other two members of Kuroro's entourage. "Greetings to you to, Bara the Renegade and his lovely daughter Una."

_**Been a while, lady. How're you doin'?**_ Bara greeted her back as he furled his great black wings, merging the appendage into the flesh of his flank. It was a sight to see, but everyone on the vicinity was already used to it.

_Hello, Lady Scheherazade. It is nice to meet you again_, Una said timidly. This wasn't her first time seeing the Weaver of Tales, but still she felt overwhelmed by the woman's presence.

Una was aware of her powers and eminence. Scheherazade was practically the royalty among the Creatures—that was what they called themselves, the creatures of mythologies and legends and folklores. Schcherazade was one of the most ancient ones, and nobody knew just how old she was, or whence she came into being. Scheherazade knew everything, heard everything, saw everything, understood everything, comprehended everything. She was the most enigmatic of the most elusive Creatures. She was unreachable, unstoppable, incomprehensible. Some said she was fashioned by God himself, others said she was born the same moment the world was born. Nobody knew for sure. If there were anyone who knew Scheherazade from before time, they certainly didn't make themselves known—they were probably Creatures that were as equally elusive as she was, but unlike her they probably didn't have a care for the affairs of the world.

Bara wondered deeply how Kuroro could have such a close acquaintanceship with The Weaver of Tales. Scheherazade was known to be the most solitary Creature. She didn't make friends. He had been told the stories of the adventures of Kuroro and Kurapika from many sources (Hatsubaba, Anansi, Lucian, Una) and he could only conclude that Ishtar had won a favour from Scheherazade, and the favour was extended to Kuroro by default and by favour from Scheherazade herself. She probably was fond of Kuroro.

As for the close, friend-like acquaintanceship between Lucian and Schehearazade…well, one couldn't be surprised of it. Lucian was just Lucian. He made friends with just everything and everyone. Scheherazade was probably just entertaining herself with him. Lucian certainly knew how to make a fool out of himself, and there was no denying that it was superbly entertaining.

"Well…" Scheherazade said in her soft, lullaby-like voice, "how may I be of service to you, then?"

"It's about his spawn of devil…" Lucian murmured irritably.

_**Indeed,**_ Bara snickered at all-too-appropriate the nickname. He concurred that Meta's pranks sometimes could be more vicious than those of demons.

"Ah. Meta, then. Has he raised yet another chaos?" The dark-skinned woman giggled in good humour.

A raised eyebrow from Kuroro, and a mutter of "see? I told you that everyone knows that your kid is the mini god of destruction, period" from Lucian.

Of course Kuroro decided to ignore Lucian ("OI!")

"What do you know?" Kuroro began his interrogation.

"Well…Aside from the fact that your son has bridged the Material World and the Spirit World?" The Weaver of Tale lifted up her chin and looked up into Kuroro's solid onyx eyes. A slightly malicious smile graced her full, luscious lips.

Lucian cringed at that smile. He had seen that smile before, and boy didn't it spell DOOM to him at that time.

"…And that he has potentially exposed himself to more dangers than if you unleashed all the demon-slaves of the Solomon Ring?"

* * *

**_Author's Note: _**_Okie-dokie! Maybe I'm rather late, but college has just restarted! Yaaaay! (half-sarcasm; yes I do enjoy my university life but it's just so damn demanding) So expect that next updates to be late, but I'll finish this one for sure ^^_


	16. Meta's nen part 5: Consultation

_Part 5 of the story about Meta's Nen: in which Scheherazade sought after for the explanation on Meta's Nen._

* * *

**Part 5**

_**CONSULTATION**_

* * *

…_he has potentially exposed himself to more dangers than if all the demon-slaves of the Solomon Ring were unleashed…_

Any normal parents that heard that their child was being expose to mortal dangers like that would surely panic and begged to be given some kind of solutions to avoid the worst or to at least deal with it.

No such thing with Kuroro Lucifer.

He was no normal parent. In the first place, a normal child of a normal parent wouldn't get into this kind of trouble that Meta did. Kuroro remained calm and perfectly composed, as if Scheherazade had just told him that Meta had gone and adopted a lion cub for his pet. Oh, lion cub was perfectly fine for Kuroro. If it was a chimera cub, _then_ it might get a bit problematic.

But that was beside the point.

"What kind of dangers exactly?" Kuroro inquired after a lapse of thoughtful silence.

"Oh, nothing much." Scheherazade shrugged noncommittally.

"You've just implied that it's mighty dangerous!" Lucian yelled at the exotic beauty's contradiction.

"Is he your child, Lucian?" The Weaver of Tales asked Lucian gently.

"I—Huh?"

"Is Meta your child?"

"…Is this a trick question?"

"Is he?"

"Uh…No?"

"Then kindly shut up."

"%^&*(^%!"

So while Bara laughed his head off and Una was pitying Lucian for being bullied, Kuroro and Scheherazade ignored a raging vampire who wasn't physically violent yet verbally violent; and was spewing curses and blasphemy that would make Buddha's ears bleed and the coarsest of pirates blush, as Kuroro narrated the incidents in Meta's latest midnight excursions and Scheherazade listened while still playing her oud. Also, Kuroro offered the little bit of explanation that Meta could think of.

According to Meta, he did manage to do all those weird unearthly things ever since he awakened his Nen. He started to notice things that previously didn't notice (or couldn't see, to be more precise), and he could listen to them as clearly as he could listen to Shalnark's snores (Shalnark insisted that he did NOT snore, which was saying just how dreadfully acute this little fiend's hearing was). Meta even insisted that he could hear the wind's whispery words. He said that the wind spoke to him, telling him of the gossips that were happening all across the little town in the middle of that God-forsaken mountain.

Most importantly, he also said that he started to be able to do astral projection; which was very COOL and he declared that it was the most awesome things that could happen in his life. Out of his admiration for this particular newfound ability, he had been practicing to perfect said skill because he admitted that sometimes he couldn't go back into his body or almost forgot entirely that he was in his spirit form—which scared Kurapika shitless so much she almost went hysterics again, because Bara just had to add that had the boy really forgotten about it, he wouldn't be able to go back to his body at all and would've forgotten everything about his 'previous' life in flesh.

Also, Meta confessed that he only practiced the astral projection in the middle of the night because he assumed that his mother wouldn't allow him to do it without supervisions and instructions. Meta was bright enough to know that there was _nobody_ out there that could give him instructions for that kind of training because he knew that this skill was abnormal and he (the conceited little bastard) thought that he was the only one who could do that. And Meta dared to do his astral projection when Kuroro was present because he also assumed that his father would support him in his 'endeavours'.

And so oh how surprised he was when he found out that not only his father turned him in to his mother, but also his father could physically touch his spirit form.

Imagine how betrayed the boy felt when his father didn't do as he thought he would, and instead threw him right into the proverbial lion's gaping jaw (read: Kurapika's wrath).

But also imagine how proud the boy was of his father, to know that his father was awesome enough to be able to touch spirits with his bare hands.

And needless to say that Kurapika was FURIOUS when she discovered that Kuroro had told Meta that his father was not, to put it lightly, entirely human.

"YOU TOLD HIM THAT?!" Lucian; who had recovered from his bouts of rambling fury, screeched at the Spider Head at his carelessness and thoughtlessness.

Una gave Kuroro a look of disapproval, while Bara simply laughed at the whole thing. Bara thought it was hilarious, and he was thinking of teasing the boy about it. He wouldn't tease Kurapika about it; that was just asking to be gutted.

"It's about time." Kuroro merely shrugged and without remorse on his countenance.

"It is just as well that he told the boy about it. It offers the boy a great deal of explanation on why he acquires such unusual Nen." Scheherazade hummed in great amusement.

"Ooookaaaaaaayy…" Lucian drawled, giving up on convincing his friend that he was pathologically insane. Instead, he turned to Scheherazade and asked for the main issue: "So? Any explanations?"

"What do you want me to explain about? They seem self-explanatory enough to me." Scheherazade hummed.

"To you, yeah. You've got God-knows-how-many-centuries' worth of knowledge inside your pretty head there. WE don't know." Lucian rolled his eyes.

Kuroro cast a fleeting glance at the two unicorns that were present. They both had done him a favour by explaining about Creatures. They had explained to him that those Creatures that were floating around Meta were simply bodiless Creatures; the spirits. They also told him about the Material World and the Spirit World.

The Material World was just the normal world; the world where everything had tangible bodies. The Spirit World was just as the name implied; it was a world for the bodiless. The Creatures lived in both worlds, and there were a few that could live in both worlds interchangeably. Genie was one type that could live in both worlds; they could materialise and dematerialise their being freely. Only the most perceptive could see the Creatures that lived strictly in the Spirit World. That was the reason why Kuroro could only see those Creatures around Meta when he looked through the Solomon Ring; because the ring was an item that bridged both worlds. However, he could see Meta because not only that they were blood-related, but also because Kuroro himself wasn't normal. His unique 'impure' blood allowed him certain limited visibility of the residents of the Spirit World. In short, Bara remarked that Kuroro probably would be able to see the high-level Spirits because their presence was 'leaking' into the Material World.

"You are such a moron, Lucian." The Weaver of Tales said with a tone of fondness in her voice. "Surely you are aware that spirits are equivalent to pure Nen?"

"Yeah. So?" Of course he knew. The Solomonarii witches from his father's place drilled the said tid-bits into his head when he was younger and he'd be damned if he forgot about them. They were the worst kind of teachers in the sense that they tortured the information into his mind and body.

_**Like you said, he's a moron,**_ Bara sniggered while ignoring an iron-melting glare from Lucian.

"If you're not going to be helpful, just shut up."

_**Being helpful, eh? I'm certainly more helpful than you are in this particular case. For instance, I did explain to Kuroro about those Creatures and the Material World and the Spirit World. And I helped keeping tracks of the brat when he wandered into the forest and going topsy-turvy with those small fries,**_ Bara gloated at the vampire while sticking his tongue out.

_Father, how old are you?_ If horses could facepalm, Una would've done it.

_**He started it first,**_ Bara shrugged, but nonetheless stopped taunting poor Lucian.

"Well…Have you not had enough explanation from Bara, then?" Scheherazade raised an elegant eyebrow towards Kuroro. "What more do you wish to know?"

"He did explain about the Creatures. He didn't explain about Meta's Nen." Kuroro said flatly. "Had there been any person in the past who had possessed Nen of the same unique nature as Meta's?"

"There were people with extraordinary Nen because of the result of their trainings and because of their state of mind and upbringings. I presume you are asking of people with such Nen due to their heritage?"

"Exactly. Lucian mentioned demi-gods."

"I knew one. He was my father's friend but now he is long gone." Lucian shrugged. "I was too young at that time, so I don't remember anything about him, certainly not about his Nen. I wasn't too interested in Nen back then."

_**How young is your 'young', you silly undead?**_ Bara asked while yawning.

"I was barely reborn." Lucian said in indignation at Bara's mocking tone.

_**No wonder, then. Fresh vampires have the worst memorising capabilities. **_Bara sniffed in distaste. He didn't like fresh vampires; they were insolent and foolish.

With that, Lucian started bickering with Bara about the capabilities of vampires, while Una sighed at her father's occasional immaturity, and Kuroro rolled his eyes at the duo's stupiditiy, and Scheherazade amused herself while watching them and pouring the proverbial oil into the proverbial fire.

"Lucian said the truth. There had been demi-gods in the past, but they have disappeared from the face of the Earth since long before." Scheherazade sighed as she recalled the glorious days of the past that mankind had forgotten.

She still remembered them, as vividly as she recalled what the latest tales that she weaved was. Her fingers plucked the strings of the oub, playing the music of the olden days as Scheherazade allowed herself to bask in the nostalgia of the past. None of the audience disturbed her; they knew their manners well enough. Scheherazade closed her eyes and immersed herself in her music. In her mind, she recalled the different faces of the past. Those she loved, those she despised, those she was fond of, those whose death she grieved…

"There is one…" She suddenly murmured.

"Pardon?" Kuroro inquired.

"There is one person… A man. His Nen is quite similar to Meta's." Scheherazade dove further into her memories and dug out painful memories about that man. Yes, he was one of her beloved. His death broke her heart, as how it had been repeatedly broken due to her immortality and the bane of human's short lifespan; demi-god or otherwise. "Yes. Very similar, indeed."

"Tell me about him." Kuroro said, rather obstinately.

"There is nothing that I cannot tell you…" Scheherazade said in a doleful manner. "…but there are things that I would rather keep to myself."

Kuroro was unhappy about it, but he didn't voice it as he noticed the warning look that Lucian was giving him. Lucian wasn't often a serious person, and so with that look in his grey eyes Kuroro knew that this time he meant business. Despite his dissatisfaction at Scheherazade, Kuroro held his tongue and let the vampire handle it. He knew her longer than Kuroro did, he knew how to deal with her better and get things done.

"If you don't wish to share his story with us, then at least there's something you can do for Meta? You know his circumstances, anyway. Like you always do." Lucian asked in his characteristic flippant way, but there was an underlying gentleness and empathy in his voice that Kuroro didn't fail to notice.

"Certainly." Scheherazade nodded, but the melancholy didn't lift from her voice. "I will certainly aid him. Go back home for now, and seek me not. I will come to your son's aid as I see fit."

There was a tone of finality in her voice that demanded obedience. Kuroro looked at Lucian for guidance, and Lucian gestured at him with a tilt of his head to just go and obey her. Kuroro nodded an affirmation at Lucian and got up from his seat. He turned around and herded the unicorns to come with him, leaving Lucian behind with a morose Scheherazade.

Silence passed between them as Lucian contemplated and chose his words carefully, while Scheherazade nursed her sorrow.

"If I may ask…" Lucian finally gathered enough courage to ask, "…as a long-time friend. What are you going to do?"

Scheherazade was quiet for a moment, before she replied:

"In consideration of our long-standing friendship, I will tell you this: The Counsel of the Dead is not something you of the Material World should seek."

Lucian went pale. His countenance was naturally pale; him being a vampire, but this paleness was out of pure dread. His blood ran cold.

The Counsel of the Dead.

He had heard of it. He had heard of it from his father and the Solomonarii witches. He almost stumbled into it, therefore almost forfeiting his undead life. That was the only time that he almost died a second death for real. The Counsel of the Dead was forbidden. It went against the order of Nature. It was something that defied the law of existence.

There was always a price for summoning the Counsel of the Dead.

"Zada—!" Lucian called out to the Weaver of Tale, intending to discourage her from doing it.

But Scheherazade was no longer there. She had departed and when she did not wish to be found, she wouldn't be found. Even if Lucian asked the help of his father's Solomonarii witches, they still wouldn't be able to find her.

"Zada…"

Lucian understood her feelings; her broken heart. He had seen it, felt it, when she spoke of the man of the past whose Nen was similar to Meta's. It was one of the consequences of becoming a Creature that was untouchable by the hands of Time. The world passed by them, and the people they loved faded away, out of existence. Dead. Perished. Gone.

Lucian knew the pain.

He once loved a human.

His heart was once broken as well.

* * *

**_Author's Note: _**_Well... A bit on Scheherazade, but I don't want to elaborate too much. But she plays quite some role in this short story (not so short anymore now...) Let me know how you feel about this short story so far, and sorry for the random updates because college isn't going easy on my life (not that it ever has, but oh well). Review please! Thanks a bunch for still following the story!_

_And maybe anyone is interested in Lucian's past? Ohohohoho XD_


	17. Meta's Nen part 6: On Hold

_Part 6 of the story about Meta's Nen: in which Meta was banned from using his Nen while the adults went gallivanting around the world in search for explanation._

* * *

**Part 6**

_**ON HOLD**_

* * *

Soon after the night in which Meta was caught red-handed doing astral projection and the subsequent questioning and consultations to Scheherazade, both Kurapika and Kuroro took off from home to different destinations.

Kurapika had used up all of her maternity leave and had to report back to the Hunters Headquarters. Besides, she intended to visit the exclusive libraries of the Hunters Association that housed many supposedly-long-lost books from ancient ages and to speak to the occasionally-senile President Netero, see if either option could shed some light on the issue of Meta's Nen. Kuroro, on the other hand, went to Ryuusei-gai to consult with Anansi, Hatsubaba (God knew just how old the hag was), and the Lady of the Lake. They were all ancient beings (yes, Hatsubaba qualified as ancient despite her being a human) so they supposedly knew something.

Both of them knew of each other's activities and thus had deposited the children to the capable hands of Fino's parents. Fino had been warned by both Kurapika and Kuroro about Meta's weird Nen, but both of them knew that they couldn't expect anything much from her because she was just a simple human with simple Nen. Even if Meta decided to do his astral projection again and wreaked havoc in his spirit form, Fino wouldn't be able to do a thing. Shalnark; who now had been the official permanent resident of the Prancing Pony Inn, was also equally useless in this matter, although he did attempt to make some kind of spirit detector but had failed thus far.

Now, Meta was an incredibly difficult boy to manage. He was very wilful and was always itchy to get into actions. In Kuroro's opinion, he had incredibly short span of attention despite his amazing information-retention ability. In Lucian's opinion, the boy was suffering from a weird case of ADHD. Meta generally didn't listen to people most of the time. He certainly didn't listen to Kurapika half the time—although he began to listen to her again since she started muttering about how his contact with the Spiders were turning him into a delinquent and how Kurapika was going to keep them away from Meta; which scared Meta because those guys were just so God-awesome to hang out with—and he only listened to Kuroro when the latter meant real business (otherwise, Kuroro was just as bad as Meta was). The only person whom he really listened to was, surprisingly (or maybe not?), his adopted sister Bia.

"**META! Come back here right THIS instant!**"

The unfortunate thing about Bia was that her vocal cord was still not functional. She wasn't suffering from her trauma since her infernal days in Bensalem, nor was she suffering from any post-trauma syndromes. Some physicians claimed that probably her brain had forgotten on how to use the vocal cord at all, and that it had downgraded into becoming a mere decoration in her system. Kurapika didn't believe that. She believed that one day Bia would be able to speak again. Kuroro wasn't so bothered, and Meta was convinced that it would be nicer if Bia could speak normally like everyone did.

*CRACKLE*

"AAAAAAARGHH!"

Because Bia didn't like it when people didn't pay attention to her when she was communicating just because she couldn't speak, so she often resorted to violence. For example: electrocution at degree relative to how pissed off she was.

"THAT HURTS!"

"**Then you should have listened to me!**"

"I couldn't hear you!"

And that was the worst excuse one could give to Bia.

*FRIZZ CRACKLE*

"OKAY OKAY! MAKE IT STOP! I'M SORRY!"

Physically, Meta was way stronger than Bia was. Unfortunately, for now Bia's Nen was way more potent than Meta's was, so Meta had no choice but to pay attention to her when she demanded it. Bia also didn't hesitate to employ her Nen to discipline Meta; much to Kurapika's joy and Kuroro's amusement. Perhaps it was because Bia was older than Meta physically, while mentally and emotionally she had progressed way faster than he did as her growth was probably catching up with the suspended years in the cold preservation tank of Bensalem.

"**Mommy and Daddy are out of town, and so now we are living with Fino.**"

"I knoooww…" Meta whined.

"**And you know that your Nen is uncontrollable because of your lack of discipline.**"

"I do NOT lack discipline!" The boy protested.

"**Daddy said it.**"

Meta couldn't talk back because if 'Dad' said it, then it was probably true. If even _Kuroro_ commented on lack of discipline, then highly likely Meta had real problem with discipline. Everybody knew that Kurapika was THE demon of discipline, while Kuroro was very occasional and topical—he certainly didn't make fuss about household rules—in his discipline.

And for some reasons and much to Kurapika's immense amusement, Bia wouldn't give up calling Kuroro 'Daddy' despite the latter's protest and insistence that she called him anything else but _that._ Lucian couldn't stop laughing his ass off at that.

"**So what do you think you are going to do?**" Bia asked—err…Nen-wrote—with one hand on her hips and one foot tapping on the wooden floor of the inn. It was a gesture that she had learned from Kurapika.

"Well…You know?" Meta grinned sheepishly.

"**No, I'm afraid not. Do tell.**" Bia asked with a raised eyebrow. She might be Meta's accomplice in his pranks, but that was only when at least one of their parents were present. In the occasion when none of them were present, she was the disciplinarian. And boy, didn't Meta _hate _it. She wasn't any better than Kurapika. While Kurapika could lecture someone until the ears could fall off, Bia was more of the obnoxious you-must-do-as-I-say older sister.

"Exactly because I can't control my Nen that I have to practice, right?"

"**Only under direct supervision—**"

"There's you. And Fino. And Shalnark."

"—**of Mommy or Daddy. And no, I and they do NOT count.**"

"How about Lucian?"

"…**That's even worse.**"

This kind of exchange happened quite often since the day that it was declared that Meta was not allowed to use his Nen until clarifications of the nature of his Nen had been made. Thus, Meta was under ban. Kuroro was wise enough not to entrust the enforcement of the ban on his Spiders. Most of them were about Meta's wavelength—the boy would easily rope them into planning some diabolical pranks. Machi was probably strict enough to enforce the ban, but she wasn't keen on babysitting. Lucian, for once, wasn't delegated to the task of babysitting and instead he joined the search-for-explanation party. He was somewhere out there, steeling his mental in preparation for an audience with the Solomonarii witches in attempt to question them about the nature of Nen of demi-gods. For him, an audience with those witches was always catastrophically detrimental to his mental health.

"Your sister is right, Meta. You should listen to her."

In light of the aforementioned considerations, one person was assigned to babysit and enforce the ban on Meta: Ksa of the Tichitt Walatta. Anansi was the one who recommended him because he remembered how Meta blindly obeyed the Spider Incarnation.

"But…" Meta began whining again.

"No whining, Meta. That is not cool." Ksa simply smiled at the boy's pursed lips, but indeed Meta stopped whining.

Meta was quiet for some time. They were in the bedroom that was exclusively set aside for Kurapika's family—it was the very same room that Kuroro and Kurapika used to rent during their vagabond years back then, and the one with the trap door on the ceiling. Meta had calmed down and lay down on the cool wooden floor, while Ksa decided to read some modern human books and Bia similarly read some other books that were way too advanced for her physical year.

"Why don't they take me with them?" Meta continued complaining while rolling on the floor. "Mom used to take me along with her wherever she went."

"Because they are going to do intense research and you are not old enough to sit down quietly in a library without raising hell." Ksa answered calmly while flipping another page of the book.

"**True, true.**" Bia nodded her head in affirmation without even averting her eyes from the book.

Truth to be told, Bia wasn't so happy with being given the task to babysit Meta with Ksa. It wasn't the babysitting that ticked her off. It was the fact that Meta wasn't made to wear that God-awful Nen-restraining bracelet. Bia did, and she'd be damned if she would ever have to wear that again.

"How long more am I supposed to be useless like this?" Meta rolled on the floor again in utter boredom.

"**You're generally useless most of the time, unless it's about raising some creative sort of pandemonium and wreaking havoc.**" Bia scoffed playfully.

"As if you're not guilty of the same crime." Meta scoffed in identical manner. "And why are you being so splendidly mean to me today?"

"**Am I? You must be imagining things.**"

"Why, _hello_? I'm empathic, for God's sake. But it doesn't even take my awesome empathic-ness to know that you're obviously bugged, and it's obviously about me."

"**Well, that is for you to find out.**"

"…On second thoughts, it's probably only because of some sentimental, emotional issue that only girls fret about." Meta said haughtily.

"**Oh, sure. As I recall, I wasn't the one crying rivers and oceans when both Mommy and Daddy were leaving for their professional duties simultaneously.**"

"I was only five back then!"

"**Mommy would throw a fit if she hears me saying this but seriously? I don't give a flying crap about it**."

"Where the hell did you pick that kind of shitty language?"

"**I can ask you the same thing.**"

"Duh." Meta rolled his eyes. "You're dumb if you don't know."

"**Sure.**" Bia shrugged. "**Remind me to report Phinks to Mommy for the high offence of teaching you vulgarities.**"

"And remind me to report YOU to Mom for actually speaking said vulgarities."

"**What is the value of knowledge if one does not employ in life?**"

Ksa had long abandoned his book. Watching these two kids bantering back and forth endlessly and quite verbally creatively was way more amusing than the book. He certainly never saw this kind of banter before. Well, he guessed he wasn't supposed to be so surprised. These kids grew under the influence of Kurapika Kuroro and Kurapika Kuruta and _Lucian_ _Virgiliu_. The latter perhaps contributed the most to their weird speech pattern and odd choice of expressions.

In any case, Ksa's primary role was to keep an eye on Meta and to look out for any Creatures that might get too interested in the boy.

And Ksa wasn't too keen to admit that he felt something ominous was approaching.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **You'll want to wait for the next chapter, because it'll tell you the main issue of this story about Meta's Nen: the side effects ^^ Stay tuned! And review please XD_


	18. Meta's Nen part 7: Nightmares

_Part 7 of the story about Meta's Nen: in which the side-effects of Meta's meddling with the spirits with his Nen started to manifest._

* * *

**Part 7**

_**NIGHTMARES**_

* * *

True to Kuroro's worry, Meta's Nen had its ramification. Unfortunately, the first signs of the side effects only appeared a few weeks after the consultation with Scheherazade, during the time when both Kurapika and Kuroro were absent from home. As cliché as this might sound, the signs started to emerge from, well, nightmares. Very, very nasty nightmares that Meta claimed that it felt SOOOO real he repeatedly thought that he was a goner in those nightmares.

It was a thought that wasn't so groundless in a supernatural manner.

Meta went to sleep, and soon enough he would be twisting and turning and sweating cold sweats in his sleep, and his nightmare went like this:

It begins with him sleeping on his bed in the dream. He is then woken up by this ominous, creepy, spooky aura that seems to be leaking from under his bed—like leaking gas from a pipe in your kitchen that only takes a matchstick to blow your entire house into smithereens. Meta's bed is the old-fashioned bed with wooden frames and sturdy legs at the four corners. That leaves an empty gap under the bed, which is the cradle of darkness when the night comes. Darkness seems to condense and concentrate just right under his bed, and it pulsates as if it has a life of its own. It stretches and contracts, crawling and expanding from underneath his bed to the night world. It's like a creature that's trying to escape from its small, cold confine into the world outside that is much bigger and full of vulnerable preys. It is exactly a predator lurking in the darkness before lunging and sinking its baneful fangs and claws into the flesh and soul of its pitiful, trembling prey.

And you know how you usually can't take control of your own body in your dream no matter how itchy your nose is, or how badly you want to grab the blanket to cover up your face from the threatening darkness? The same thing happens to Meta. All he ever does in his nightmare is to lay with eyes open on his bed, facing the ceiling with his arms stiffly at his side and his legs sprawled. His blanket—which he always uses when sleeping—is nowhere to be seen; leaving him extremely vulnerable and out in the open, like a sitting duck for a lion to pounce on or for a hunter to shoot at. He can only twitch his fingers, but the rest of his muscles are taut and steely. His body feels like he's been tied down to the bed.

Initially, the nightmares are all about him tied to the bed and not being able to move at all. Then, the nightmare progressively gets worse and worse each night. Next, he is able to feel the chilly mist around him. Then, he can sense something moving and twisting just under his bed. Then, he can see something moving from the corner of his eyes at the edge of his bed. You know the dreadful anticipation that comes when you watch a horror movie when the camera is being zoomed so excruciatingly sloooooowly to the edge of a well that's all dark inside and you're anticipating something to just jump out of the well towards the camera? That is the feeling that Meta has whenever he sees those tentacles of darkness wriggling just at the edge of his bed, trying to get the rest of its body out from underneath his bed.

Lately, he begins to be able to discern what those wriggly things are.

They are fingers.

And then the hand comes.

And then Meta starts to be able to see the long, thin arm…

"…ta…"

…and the solid black substance, like ink dripping from the ever elongating appendage…

"Meta!"

Meta's eyes snapped open, and he felt shadows falling onto his face. He blinked once, and then twice. Right before his face was the face of a worried Ksa. Next to Ksa was a pale Bia. They were bending over him, watching his expressions in his troubled sleep.

It was Ksa who had called out for him. It was during this kind of situation that Bia cursed herself; at her uselessness, at her useless vocal cord that was there for nothing. She wished she could speak. She wished she could call out to Meta to wake him up from his terrible nightmares. But she couldn't. All she could do was to shake him gently, but Ksa told her that it wasn't wise to wake Meta with a shake. He had to be _called_ out of the nightmares. In the end, all she could do was to sit at Meta's bedside while wringing her delicate little hands over her sleeping gown. She hated this feeling of helplessness.

"Wha—I—why—" Meta began stuttering unfocusedly.

"**You moron. You were twisting and turning and moaning like slaughtered pig that you woke me up from my beauty sleep!**" Bia clonked the boy on his head. All she could do was to pretend that nothing strange was happening. To behave like usual; aka acting like a grumpy century-year-old hag when she was woken up unceremoniously from her sleep.

"I...I was having a…nightmare…" Meta mumbled embarrassedly.

"**Tsk. Like anyone would be twisting like a snake with stomach cramps if he's dreaming of ponies and flowers.**" Bia grouched more as she shuffled back to her own bed, hiding her frown of worry from her younger brother. "**And you better sleep peacefully now. Wake me up once more time with you twisting and turning and moaning, and I'll fry your butt into chips.**"

Ksa and Meta stared at the white-haired girl as she slumped to bed with more mumbled grumbles, before Ksa turned to the pale boy and questioned him with astonished face.

"Is she always that scary?"

Meta gave him a pitying look.

"You haven't seen a quarter of it. She's being awfully nice this time."

The Spider Incarnation cringed at it. Sometimes he wondered how mere humans could be more frightening than some monsters. However, Ksa didn't really have time to worry about a particularly monstrously intimidating human girl. He was more worried of the fact that in a few days he would have to go back to Tichitt wallata since he wasn't allowed to leave the sacred ground of his kin for too long. So far he had been able to wake Meta from the most dangerous part of his 'nightmare', but what would happen once he was absent?

He hoped Anansi would reply to his message soon.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kurapika had had enough of drowning herself among the books stored in the Hunter Association's Library, and she came close to burning the entire library down. She couldn't believe that the whole massive collection of books didn't have any _single _information about Meta's type of Nen! And to think that Netero boasted that the library had every copy of every book that ever existed. That was obviously a big fat lie, and Kurapika felt utterly moronic for believing in Netero's words when he was infamous for misleading people for his own amusement, albeit harmlessly.

"Still!" Kurapika jammed one of the preciously ancient books into its designated location on the book shelf with more force than necessary. "That doesn't mean that senile old man can just lie through his teeth like that and make me come all the way here and spends God know how many hours in this God-forsaken place for information that has never been stored here in the first place! GOD!"

"And that's why I told you that he's too suspicious, and you are just too gullibly naïve," came a snigger that was so familiar that Kurapika didn't even need to check who the speaker was.

"FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, KURORO LUCIFER! WOULD YOU STOP SNEAKING INTO THIS GODDAMN BUILDING LIKE A GODDAMN THIEF YOU ARE?!" Kurapika screamed while throwing a hard leather-bound book that happened to be in good condition.

Kuroro snatched it with ease and raised an eyebrow.

"I see you are in a bad mood."

"Why thank you for stating it, Mister Obvious." Kurapika scoffed while she continued jamming more books into the shelves with even more power that the shelf shuddered when she shoved the books in.

"And using this precious book as projectile weapon? That is sacrilege, Kurapika." Kuroro chuckled while he put the said book on the table in a manner that was tender when compared to Kurapika's vile treatment towards the books at the moment.

Kurapika mumbled a "shut up" that was decorated with some lavish curses that Kuroro couldn't help but to raise another eyebrow.

"What bother you so much?" He asked her casually.

"You tell me." She muttered snappishly.

"You didn't get what you are looking for."

Kurapika only rolled her eyes. Sometimes Kuroro stated the damn obvious so much she felt like throwing buildings at him.

"You are looking in the wrong place." He said smugly.

"OH?" Kurapika jammed the last book into the shelf until the book shelf shuddered and rattled, and then turned to glare at Kuroro with venomous intensity that matched that of a PMS-ing medusa. "And I suppose His Highness has been looking in the correct place?"

"I need your assistance." Kuroro simply stated while walking towards a seething Kurapika.

"After implying that I'm stupid enough to believe Netero and to look in the wrong place, now you want MY help?" Kurapika crossed her arms defiantly and upped the intensity of her glare—which wasn't Scarlet yet, so Kuroro knew that the ground was still safe (when her eyes turned Scarlet, he believed that the ground she was standing on had the potential of turning into a Ground Zero).

Sometimes Kuroro wondered why Kurapika hadn't started shooting laser beams when she was this pissed off.

"Even if I didn't ask for your help, you will come offering yourself to me."

"FOR CHRIST'S SAKE, CAN'T YOU SAY IT—"

Kuroro's hand on her arm. Kuroro's Nen book out. Flipping of pages. A brief zooming sensation.

"—IN A LESS EXPLICITLY SUGGESTIVE MANNER AND WHERE THE HECK HAVE YOU KIDNAPPED ME TO?!"

"For the love of the Spirits, stop screaming, Kurapika." Kuroro let go of her arm and massaged his temple. "You'll destroy this place by your screams alone."

Normally Kurapika would launch into a list of reasons and excuses and justifications of why she was entitled to scream her lungs off to his ears, but this time she didn't even think of it. She was too fascinated by what she was seeing at the moment.

She was in another library. Another massive library that probably had more books than in Hunter Association's library. And judging from the thickness of the dusts and the degree of yellowness of the pages and the crumbling leathers of the book covers, Kurapika knew right away that this particular library was ANCIENT. Netero be damned, she really should've burned down the Hunter Association's library.

No wonder Kuroro was telling her to shut up in his own 'polite' way. He feared for the books, and Kurapika could understand why.

One of the few things that the two of them shared is their mutual respect for books, although Kuroro's respect towards book was bordering pathologically OCD.

"Where are we _exactly_?" Kurapika couldn't help but to whisper in awe.

"An ancient underground library on obscurely desolate location on Earth." Kurapika could oh so hear the grin on Kuroro's face as he answered her.

He had taken her to the secret library that he had found ages ago. He had always wanted to take her there, but the opportunity hadn't arisen until now. It was a library with wonderful assortment of books, scrolls, literatures, scripts, manuscripts—you mention it. It had everything that most libraries on Earth didn't have. It was as if this subterranean library contained all the written knowledge that was lost on the surface of the earth.

"And you are saying that this library has the information we are looking for?"

"Is what Hatsubaba said."

"Hatsubaba? How did she know of this place?"

"That is something that I wonder about." Kuroro shrugged. "Although I suppose that it was her that had guided me here long time ago."

"How?"

"When I was young, she used to chant a rhyme when she was going about doing her business." Kuroro said as he walked towards one of the shelves and trailed a feather-soft touch along the spine of one of the books. "It stayed at the back of my mind, and one day I figured out that it sounded like a rhyme to memories something."

"And you found this place." Kurapika raised an eyebrow.

"That's about it." Kuroro said with a crooked smile.

Kurapika couldn't help but to roll her eyes. _Show off, _she thought.

"So, you need my help to search here?"

"Exactly. Two pairs of eyes are better than one."

"Why don't you enlist others into this?" She was referring to the Ryodan and Lucian, and he knew it.

"They don't know of this place." Kuroro simply said, and gently plucked one of the books from the shelf. Again, the surreptitious meaning behind the statement wasn't lost to Kurapika—this was to be another private secret that was to be shared between the two of them only. "Lucian probably knows of this place, but he's searching somewhere else that is out of our reach."

"Out of our reach?"

"Some place that he sincerely doesn't want to be but he still gallantly goes through the hell for Meta's sake." Kuroro answered casually with a hint of smirk on his face.

"…I don't want to know what place it is." Kurapika grimaced and turned to the other side of the library and began taking books off the shelves.

Meanwhile, Lucian was still agonising in his attempt to coerce some information out of the Solomonarii witches without getting roped into one of their worse-than-the-Devil's pranks.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **It is always fun to torture Lucian...Mfufufufu... XD Well anyway, here's the promised chapter about the side-effects of Meta's Nen, and take note that it's not the real thing yet. It's just the beginning... Muhahahahaha ^0^_


	19. Meta's Nen part 8: Interlude

Part 8 of the story about Meta's Nen: in which Meta encountered a strange guest and a mysterious cat in Prancing Pony Inn.

* * *

**Part 8**

_**INTERLUDE**_

* * *

Meta had heard that some dreams could be dreamed repeatedly, but he hadn't heard of a dream that could be repeated for as many as this particular nightmare of his does. What was more, his nightmare was just getting worse and worse and worse. And it was getting longer, too.

Meta usually liked dreams and dreaming. However, lately he began to favour bleak, black dream of nothingness rather than these suffocating nightmares. He also began to wonder just what kind wicked deeds had he done in his past lives that he deserved this torture. He knew that he'd been a tad bit too mischievous, but wasn't this a bit over the top?

…Right?

With pale face and dark purplish rings under his eyes, Meta trudged his way down the staircase and to the kitchen. He was famished; the nightmare exhausted him as if it had been a reality. It had been like that lately, and Fino's parents had been quite worried about him. He tried to brush off their concerns—not because he didn't like being worried about and spoiled rotten by the lavish gifts that the elder pairs tended to give him when he was down in spirit, but more because he didn't like having some questionable herbs and God-awful medicine shoved down his throats by them whenever they found out that he was sick.

"Not feeling well, squirt?"

Meta gave a face at Shalnark and mumbled a "leave me alone" at the Spider grouchily. Shalnark was to avoid as well, since he tended to report to his father about Meta. The last thing Meta needed presently was his father giving him THE look and making him spill out whatever the hell was happening to him and giving him some heinous training to remedy his weakness. Meta was aware that his father didn't exactly behave like how fathers would normally behave. For one, there was a time that Meta fell into a trap in the forest and injured himself and gotten himself sick with fever because of infection. The consequence of that was that Kuroro made him do some survival game in a God-forsaken fever-infested island to train Meta's survival skills and his antibody towards disease.

Needless to say that Kurapika threw an earth-shattering fit at Kuroro when she became aware of said treacherous (term courtesy to Kurapika) training, and Meta was curious on how his father managed to prevent his mother from fetching him from the damn island at the drop of hat. In fact, Meta managed to finish the training without his mother bearing down the wrath of a t-rex with ulcers at him.

Although, after some discreet hints from Lucian, Meta decided he didn't want to know how his father did it.

Meta grabbed his breakfast and decided to eat his breakfast in his room because he could feel Shalnark's curious gaze at him. No doubt the man suspected something, so Meta didn't want to risk it. On his way to the staircase, Meta heard Fino talking to a guest. Meta then made a mental note to avoid Fino as well, because she _ALWAYS_ reported to his mother and everyone on Earth knew that his mother was mighty fretful about her children's well-beings. All things considered, Meta was more afraid of his mother than his father when it came to 'parental concerns'.

"Oh, no. The forest beyond our inn is not our property."

That made Meta stop.

Meta usually had the habit of observing people in the inn. New people came and went—although he didn't have any idea on how The Prancing Pony Inn could always have guests coming in all year long although their little town was uncharted in the map—and Meta made it a game with Bia and his father (when he was around) to make guesses of the guests' history and character. It was like a detective game for them.

Recently, Meta wasn't in the mood of observing people. Not with the nightmares that were plaguing him throughout the night and the exhaustion it caused for the rest of the day. Therefore, Meta didn't know of this particular quest that Fino was talking to.

He couldn't recognise the guest. He didn't even know if it was a woman or a man. The guest wore long trench coat that concealed the shape of the body. Meta hadn't heard the guest speaking either. Curiously, Meta started discreetly making his way around the room so that he could take a glimpse of the guest's side profile. He was juuuust about to see the guest's face….

"Miaaaw…"

Meta literally jumped around in surprise.

At the bottom of the staircase, an eerily beautiful black cat was staring at him with its golden eyes. They shone with curiosity and, unnervingly, _warning_. Meta couldn't tell if it was a male or a female cat, but the animal certainly had the gait and grace of a royalty—if cats had such thing. It sashayed its way towards Meta and brushed its soft side against Meta's leg as it gave a velvety purr that sent shivers down Meta's spine.

"Meta? What are you doing there?"

Immediately after hearing Fino's voice, the cat bolted across the floor and slipped its way out of the inn through the closing door of the inn. Meta then realised that the questionable guest was nowhere to be seen and concluded that the guest was the one who had gone out of the inn and had been followed by the cat. However, before Fino could question Meta about anything and before she even realised that he was bringing his breakfast to his room—which was actually forbidden by Fino—Meta had ran up the stair to the bedroom that he shared with his other siblings.

Meta then swore, as he was telling the encounter to Bia, that he could interpret the cat's purr with his God-awesome empathic-ness as:

_I am watching you, boy…_

* * *

_Anyone wants to guess who/what the guest and the cat are? Mfufufufufufu_


	20. Meta's Nen part 9: Who What How Why

_Part 9 of the story about Meta's Nen: in which Meta started his investigation on the guest and the cat-only to start disastrously._

* * *

**Part 9**

_**WHO WHAT HOW WHY?**_

* * *

Meta wasn't an airhead fool. He knew that Ksa's role wasn't to babysit him and Bia while his parents were away. Kurapika and Kuroro had gone off at the same time plenty of time before and in those times they usually put the children under the care of Fino and her family or the Genei Ryodan (much to Kurapika's immense protests that were largely ignored by Kuroro), but they had _never_ called on the help of some mythical creatures to babysit them. If Ksa was called all the way from Tichitt Wallata, then he had to have some big role to play—which didn't mean babysitting Meta regardless of how destructive the boy could be when left alone to his boredom.

And Meta was an observant devil—as how Lucian would often say—and he was the type of person who remembered what events happened on what date of which day of which week of which month of which year, like when some people remember the exact date of the day when they had the diarrhoea of their lifetime. He remembered small details that would normally go unnoticed by most people and he could link them with other details to draw some brilliant conclusions that people wouldn't normally come up with, despite his short attention-span.

For one, he was aware that Ksa departed for Tichitt Walatta on the day that the strange guest and the mysterious cat made their appearance in the Prancing Pony Inn. In conclusion, either the guest or the cat or both of them were the replacement of Ksa.

Question was: for what?

The generic answer for that question was easy enough. It HAD to have something to do with Meta's God-awful nightmares. But what _exactly_, Meta didn't know. And why did he start having those stupid nightmares, anyway?

"Meta! What do you think you are doing?!"

Uh-oh…

As of right _now_, Meta's hands were outstretched towards the door knob of a guest's bedroom. Fino had made it crystal clear that the guests' bedrooms were off-limits for all reasons and purposes. That meant no playing hide-and-seek, no planning-diabolical-plans, no hide-Lucian's-special-sunblock in any of the guests' rooms, empty or not. _Most _of the time, both children adhered to said rules. However, if the guests were interesting enough, Meta and sometimes Bia would risk a sneak-peek at the room just to know what kind of weirdo that Fino had housed again.

And this particular guest was just the kind of guest that Meta was itching to know.

"Meta…" Fino narrowed her eyes into dangerous slits—Fino was usually sweet, but when it came down to her business…

The half-blood Kuruta shuddered at the thought.

"Hands off now, or else…"

Meta gulped.

"Bye!"

And Meta made a beeline for the exit. He didn't want Fino start using her Nen on him—one time Fino unleashed her Nen on him when he broke one of her precious plate collection by accident, and it was _nasty_. Fino was an Emission type. Like Kurapika's friend Senritsu, her Nen could affect one's emotional state. In her rage, Fino went behemoth on Meta and her Nen practically crippled the boy's emotional state for the whole day.

Needless to say that Kuroro was very amused by it, and Kurapika thought it was a good lesson for Meta.

"**If you had entered the room, you would've lost.**"

The sentence floated in front of Meta's face by an inch away the moment Meta slipped into his bedroom and locked the door in case Fino decided to come after him. Meta scowled and swatted away the Nen words. The sentence was referring to the detective game that Meta often played with Bia and Kuroro. They made it a rule that their hypothesis could be only based on their observation on the person's behaviour and attitude, but they were not allowed to sneak into the bedroom to search for clues from their belongings. It was an observation game purely on human body language.

"This isn't a game." He said to Bia, who was lying on the bed while playing with the twins.

Bia's way of babysitting the twins was rather quirky, but the twins were equally quirky as well. She practically just _drenched _them in pure Nen. She made sure they wouldn't be too much for the twins to bear, although to the surprise of many people—notably the Spiders—the twins could bear _so much_. The twins would be preoccupied with dealing with Nen and therefore they wouldn't make so much fuss about anything. Kurapika was rather dubious about this kind of babysitting, but Kuroro adored Bia for her brilliant mind. Lucian thought Bia had gone nuts from spending too much time with Kuroro.

"**No? Then what is it?**"

"This guest has something to do with my nightmares."

Bia looked up and gave him a bemused look.

"**And you say that because…?**"

"I can tell."

She snorted.

"**Yeah sure. Because of your **_**epic**_** empathic-ness." **Bia rolled her bright hazel eyes. "**But I still haven't seen him around the inn. Are you sure he's staying here?**"

"He gotta be." Meta stopped and cocked his head sideways. "Although I'm not sure if it's a HE or a SHE."

Bia's eyebrows shot up.

"I haven't seen the face, haven't heard the voice, and the trench coat isn't helping either." Meta shrugged.

"**You can always ask Fino.**"

"Not fun."

"**And you've just said that this isn't a game?**" Bia narrowed her eyes.

Meta looked at Bia as if she had just grown a pair of wings. And then he blinked.

"Right." He nodded, and slipped out of the room once again.

Bia simply stared at the door with a what-the-hell look, and then turned to the twins. They both were also looking at the door with matching quizzical expressions on their chubbily adorable face. They then turned to her and looked at her expectantly with their emerald green and abyssal black eyes.

"**I know. He's a moron.**"

The twins then giggled at her.

* * *

"Fino Fino Fino Fino!"

The said girl turned around to face Meta and swiftly brought down a fist upon Meta's head as he rushed towards her.

"I told you so many times NOT to run in the corridors." She said while wiggling her index finger threateningly at Meta; who was whimpering while rubbing the freshly sore spot on his head.

"Sorry, but I want to ask you about that guest!"

Fino raised an eyebrow. Meta never asked about her guests before, unless they were too shady-looking.

"Which one?"

"The one whose room I was about to enter just now! The one with the black cat!"

"Huh? He has a cat? I didn't know that."

Meta's eyes went big. "The cat isn't his? Oh, wait! So he's really a HE?"

"Well…I think so. I don't know. The face looks rather effeminate, it can be either a man or a woman face. I can't tell about the body because of the trench coat. The height is average. The rest of his belongings are generic, unisex items."

"What about his voice?"

"Oh. About that." Fino's face turned rather sympathetic at this. "I think he's a mute. He communicates with me using papers and pen."

"A mute?" Meta got even more curious. He had never encountered a mute before. "What about the handwriting? Does it look like a man's or a woman's handwriting?"

Fino playfully gave him a dirty look.

"You're asking ME that? How am I supposed to know? I'm not your Mom or your Dad. Or Shalnark."

"Oh, come on. You don't have any of the papers?" Meta whined.

"I said papers, but more like he showed me his notebook and then took it back. So, no. I don't have a sample for you to scholarly analyse it." Fino shrugged.

Just then, a customer called out to Fino. She wasted no time abandoning Meta and his questions, thus leaving Meta to grumble and scowl on his own. He turned around to go back to his room when he caught something at the window from the corner of his eyes. Meta quickly spun on the ball of his foot and faced the window. He stared.

And stared.

And stared.

Until he saw it. The glint of gold from the shadows of the forest.

A pair of golden eyes.

_The cat!_

Meta ran to the window and forced it open at the same time when the cat dashed off into the forest. In less than a heartbeat, Meta jumped through the window and ran after the black cat. With the eyes that had been trained to see in the darkness of forests since his childhood—since he spent his infancy and his toddler days practically on Una's back as they travelled across the woods around the world—Meta had little difficulty to spot the black cat as it ran across the forest floor.

He ran for a long long time, until Meta realised something _really_ wrong.

He couldn't catch up with the cat. It was always there, at the same distance from him. The cat neither went closer nor went further from him no matter how hard the boy ran, no matter how long they had been running. It was uncanny.

It was fishy.

Still, in his excitement, Meta didn't give much thoughts to all those logics and he mindlessly kept going after the cat. It was a fatal mistake.

At one point, the cat rushed into one of the bushes, and Meta in his adrenaline rush only had his eyes on the cat and paid little attention to the surrounding. Like a bull that had just seen red, Meta bulldozed the bushes.

He found himself suspended over a ravine. Beneath his feet was empty air. Below there, far _far_ away down there, was a fast-moving stream.

Everything seemed to stop moving, at best things seemed to move at excruciatingly slow motion. Still, in that illusionary long stretch of time, Meta still had the time to wonder where the cat had gone to. Had it fallen over the cliff and into the stream? Meta looked around, and found the cat. It was sitting on its haunches on the other side of the ravine, _staring_ at him with its curiously humane eyes.

The cat was _staring _at Meta in the eyes.

Meta swore the cat was laughing at him with its eyes.

The cat's amused smirk was the last thing he saw before the spell of time suspension broke and he found himself free-falling into the stream.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **Dear reader, forgive me for late updates but I'm dying from the shitload of works from my college. My programme leader is a slave driver... Oh well... So we know here that the cat is messing around with Meta. Find out more about the cat and the guest on the next chappie! And reviews please! ^o^_


	21. Meta's Nen part 10: The Guest

Part 10 of the story about Meta's Nen: in which Meta finally encountered the mysterious guest.

* * *

**Part 10**

_**THE GUEST**_

* * *

When Meta came to, the first thing he did was to shake off the disorientation that was crippling him silly. The next thing he did was spewing strings of colourful expletives that would make Buddha's ears bleed and the crudest of all pirates blush, directed at a certain cat with golden eyes.

_The next time I see that blasted feline, I'm going to make a cat-kebab outta that bloody creature_, Meta hissed mentally as he swiped the thick layer of dried blood that was caking on his face and nursing the award-winning soreness on his cute little butt.

He had fallen over the ravine all the way into the streams, get swept along in the currents, and ended up God-knows-where. The blood all over his face? That was from the cut somewhere on his head. Now, that cut itself wasn't so bad and wasn't anything serious. The thing about head is that the scalp was thin while there were ungodly amount of blood veins criss-crossing up there. So a tiny cut on the scalp could produce copious amount blood gushing out unhealthily all over the head. That didn't bother Meta, though. He had bled worse than this before, and to be honest blood didn't bother him in the slightest.

Wringing the water off his clothes as much as he could, Meta looked around the place where he had regained consciousness. It was some desolate corner of the ravine, dark and damp and perfect for skeletons to rot. He was surrounded by the solid earthen wall of the ravine, and the only opening there was around him was the relatively big fissure on one side of the rocky wall. It looked big enough to accommodate a grown man, and so Meta figured that he would have no difficulties to squeeze himself into that crack. However, there was no telling whether that fissure only led to dead end or to the world up there above the ravine. Meta had heard of those horror tales of men who had taken the risk of entering a fissure that seemed big enough for them, but had ended up tragically trapped inside when the said fissure had narrowed down so much they got stuck in it and ended up dead from starvation and exposure to the elements.

But! Meta was pretty sure that this fissure indeed led to the world up there. Why he was so sure? Because he heard faint singing drifting from inside the fissure, meaning that there was at least somebody up there, singing his or her head off, and the voice was carried all the way down.

And so began Meta's adventure into that fissure of darkness to climb his way up there.

…

Which turned out to be a disappointment because there was nothing to inspire an exciting adventure. It was more like a trek up the mountain than anything else. Contrary to his worry, the fissure led to a kind of cave within the wall of the ravine, and reassuringly it was indeed leading up. To entertain himself, Meta played detective on the insects that lived in the darkness of the forest. When he saw some rare ones, he would paralyze them with his Nen—a skill courtesy to his attempt to ward off Bia whenever she went PMS-ing electric eel on him—and pocket them with intention to give them to Lucian as _well-intended_ present. For once.

As Meta climbed the gradually-steeper floor of the cave, he started humming a tune. It was the tune of the singing that he had been hearing since he entered the cave. The singing drifted down and filled the entire cave soothingly. Meta wondered why he knew the tune. He was pretty sure he had never heard of it before, but it felt vaguely familiar to him. Dismissing it as something unimportant, Meta merely continued humming in tune of the singing.

Before long, Meta reached the surface. True to his heritage, instead of climbing out of the hole that connected the surface with the cave, Meta jumped out of it with a feline grace that would have made Lucian swoon—that man had some fetish about graceful things. Meta even executed a nearly flawless somersault before landing on the solid ground on both feet. When he looked around to assess his surroundings, his eyes were quickly attracted to something that he expected to be there.

A person.

"Hi there!"

The person turned around with slight jump at Meta's sudden energetic chirp. The person obviously hadn't heard Meta's arrival—which wasn't really surprising since Meta had been trained in stealth by a certain obnoxious ex-assassin. Upon seeing the person's face, Meta's eyebrows dipped.

The reason for this unexpectedly unexpected frown was because Meta couldn't discern whether that person is a male or a female. For a male, too effeminate. For a female, too masculine. Meta and Bia had been taught the art of disguise by Kuroro when he was around and had no better things to do (which Kuroro begged to differ because he thought that this was one of the best things he could do when he was at home, while the other best things being…well, you know). The other Spiders also had taught the children their own methods of disguise when they happened to be around, or when they were decreed to babysit the children. By that standard, Meta was equipped with the skill to see through any disguises; be it a male disguising as a female, or the other way around. He could see from both the outward appearance, and the subtle nuances in the body language that betrayed their true identity.

But this person. He couldn't guess. He really had no idea whether the person is a he or a she. The wavy hair is long and smooth, with the dazzling colour of deep gold.

Then, something occurred to him.

_The guest!_ He cried mentally in delight.

And indeed the person was the guest that had been staying at Fino's Prancing Pony Inn, whom Meta had been stalking ("I DID NOT stalk!") recently. The guest was staring at Meta with an unusual mix of expressions; it was an expression between confusion, relief, surprise, and…something else.

"Hi there!" Meta said enthusiastically, trying to hide the uneasiness that started to surface in his mind.

To Meta's gargantuan surprise, the guest answered him.

With real words.

"Hello, young one." The guest smiled thinly.

Meta's jaw dropped to the ground. Metaphorically, of course.

"You…" Meta started in astonishment. Fino had told him that the guest couldn't speak!

"I am Epiales." The guest said with decidedly friendly tone.

Meta tilted his head to the side while restraining from clucking his tongue in annoyance. That name could either be a man's or a woman's, and his voice could either sound like a man with unusually high pitch, or a woman with unusually low voice—in which both were a high-rate possibility. This Epiales is such a pain!

"You stay in Prancing Pony Inn, right?" Meta asked with pretended carefreeness. "What are you doing here?"

"Yes indeed I do. And I can ask you the same thing, boy. What are you doing here, in the middle of nowhere, all by yourself?" Epiales asked Meta back with soft voice.

"You haven't answered my question, so I'm not answering you." Meta pursed his lips while putting his hands on his hips.

"Of course." Epiales smiled again. "I am painting. See?"

Epiales moved aside to reveal a painting on an easel behind him. Meta raised his eyebrows; why hadn't he noticed them before?

"Oh. You're a painter?" Meta asked innocently. Epiales didn't really look like a painter. Meta had never seen Epiales carrying such huge easel and any canvas or painting tools either. Perhaps he had to ask Fino later.

"Well, not exactly." Epiales shrugged with the smile still etched on the face.

"Can I see?"

"By all means." Epiales made a slight bow and a smooth sweep with his arms towards the painting, like a gentleman welcoming a guest to his manse. Seeing this, Meta then decided that perhaps Epiales was a he, after all.

With all the lightness of a child, Meta skipped towards the painting and scrutinised it. It was a painting of the environment where they were. It was a very realistic painting, with the shape and shade of everything exactly like how the eye saw it. However, there was one disturbing element in that painting.

In that painting, Meta was looking at the painting, Epiales standing behind him with his hands on Meta's shoulder and his face close to Meta's head.

"What do you think of it?" A pair of cold hands descended onto Meta's small shoulders, and Meta had to fight the urge to stiffen. "Perfect, is it not?"

"Perfectly accurate." Meta admitted with a chirp, while inwardly his siren was blaring _WARNING! WARNING! PERSONAL SPACE BREACHED!_

"Yes. I have been waiting for days to finish this painting. Today I can finally finish it." Epiales said with his silky smooth voice, but Meta could feel a cold mist drifting from the direction of his mouth.

"How?" Meta couldn't help asking. He couldn't move his body. He tried jerking his shoulders off Epiales' hands, but he couldn't. He felt like his spine had turned into an ice column.

"Why, that is a strange question you are asking." Epiales laughed softly, the chiming of it freezing Meta's innards solid. "But curiosity is a good thing, my child. I will show you how I will finish this painting. Observe the painting, boy."

Meta did, and he wished he hadn't.

* * *

"**Are you sure it's here?**"

The question came from a little pale girl with white hair, whose thin arms were folded across her chest and her small dainty foot tapping impatiently at the soft ground.

_**I'm perfectly 120% completely sure it's here.**_

And the indignant booming voice came from an irate black unicorn who looked like he could nuke the girl.

_Una was calling him, but he did not respond. He seemed to be chasing after something._

And the soft voice came from the smaller white unicorn with a black horn standing not far from the relatively gargantuan black unicorn.

Bia had gone to look for Meta because Fino had told her that the brat had run off into the forest like demon-possessed (she didn't know how possible that was, considering the Solomon Ring being the 'family hairloom' and such). Una had then met her in the forest, and told Bia that Bara was following Meta across the forest. When Una and Bia reached Bara, he was standing by the cliff that was facing a very, _VERY _deep ravine. Bara told them how Meta had run headlong among the bushes and consequently dropped into the stream at the bottom of the ravine. Bia was sceptical that Meta would be that stupid to actually fall into an obviously gaping ravine like that.

"**Chasing something? What?**"

_We did not see._ Una shook her head sadly.

_**I'm amazed that there's something that that diabolical brat can't catch. As far as I know, the brat can practically catch anything in this forest. Aside from me, that is,**_ Bara snorted smugly.

"**Well, I don't really care about what he's chasing after. I just need to get his back up here in one piece.**" Bia groused.

_**Then hop on my back, lass. I'll take you down there.**_ Bara offered without lowering his body to the ground to help Bia in getting on to his back.

Apparently, Bia didn't need such assistance as her legs were strong enough to let her jump onto the black unicorn's back in one go. Without further ado, Bara unfurled his leathery wing and then jumped into the ravine, gliding down in the air. Una observed them for a moment while nervously beating her hoof to the solid ground, before she turned around and headed back to the direction of the town. She was going to wait at the outskirt of the forest, waiting just in case Kuroro or Kurapika would be back soon. The children wouldn't appreciate her telling them about them getting into troubles again, and Una usually didn't report them to the grown-ups.

But Una felt that this time it was necessary.

* * *

_**Is he sleeping? Should I wake him up with my hoofs?**_ Bara asked enthusiastically while brandishing his trusty hoof with equal enthusiasm.

"**Under normal circumstances, I would've let you.**" Bia muttered.

They had found Meta in no time. He was sprawled on the sandy bank, half of his body on the dry land and the other half submerged in the stream. The first thing Bia did had been to nudge him not-so-gently with the tip of her boot. But he hadn't responded. Meta just lay there on the ground, looking perfectly dead like a log for all the world could see. Bia had raised an eyebrow at this, and proceeded to shove her boot to Meta's side, but still no reaction. She knew that something abnormal had happened to him AGAIN.

So she ran a scan on his body—which she could do easily with her Nen, no problem. She checked his brain wave and activities, and other things that her electromagnetic Nen could detect. So far, his body was functioning as per normal and his brain activity indicated that he was dreaming. However, it was odd that Meta wouldn't wake up from his dream even after the abuse Bia had inflicted on his body. Then, she knew why.

"**It's empty.**"

_**What is? His brain?**_

"**This is just an empty husk. His spirit is somewhere else.**" Bia clucked her tongue in annoyance.

_**Yeah? How do you know?**_ Bara raised an invisible eyebrow at the white-haired girl.

"**He can do astral projection, remember? I've done some experiments on my own when he was out gallivanting around in his spirit form. This is the exact same state when he's doing his stupid astral projection.**" Bia had the urge to kick the boy again, but fought against it as it evidently was of no help to the current predicament.

_**So we need to find his spirit. Great. So exciting.**_ Bara muttered while figuratively rolling his eyes.

The black unicorn had just taken several steps away from the crime scene when Bia called his attention. She had screamed; and since Bia was essentially mute, her scream had been translated into a jolt of electricity that ionized the air.

_**What now?**_

Bia's response was the agitated charge in the air. Bara turned around and trotted back to where Meta's body was, and he found out why the pitchfork-sharp-tongued-nerve-of-steel Bia was rendered speechless.

There was blood streaming steadily from his nose. Under normal circumstances, Bara would have accused the boy of doing some dirty things in his dreams, but such thoughts instantly evaporated from his mind as soon as he saw the equally steady trickling of the crimson liquid from the boy's ears and eyes.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__Yeah, yeah, yeah. Damn late update, I know. Can't be helped, you know. With college and all… Animation ain't easy, and my programme leader is bat-shit insane. Sometimes. Anyway, I'm in holiday and hopefully I can finish this thing about Meta's Nen during the holiday. It's getting to the end, anyway._

_So REVIEWs guys!_


	22. Meta's Nen part 11: The Cat

_Part 11 of the story about Meta's Nen: in which the mysterious cat joined the scene._

* * *

**Part 11**

**_THE CAT_**

* * *

It was perfectly natural for normal people to freak out shitless when they saw blood flowing from a sleeping child's orifices. However, Bia wasn't normal. She lived in an abnormal environment, growing up with abnormal people, raised by abnormal parents, and had equally abnormal siblings. And it went without saying that her present companion Bara was the epitome of abnormal; first of all him being a friggin' _winged_ _black _unicorn. Therefore, Bia didn't freak out when she saw the copious amount of blood. In fact, all she did was raise an eyebrow.

"**He's got himself into some deep shit again, I see.**" She clucked her tongue irritably.

_**You know what's going on?**_ Bara asked her curiously. She seemed awfully calm for someone whose brother was bleeding to death.

"**No.**"

Bara blinked.

_**Ain't you worried?**_

"**No point worrying about Meta. He always goes and does this kind of thing. You get used to it and you don't worry every time he does his vanishing acts and re-appears bleeding fountain.**" Bia 'murmured' with her Nen writing as she looked around the ravine lazily. "**And after a while, you don't really feel like saving his ass every time he ends up like this.**"

_**You ain't gonna do nothing, then?**_

Bia sighed.

"**I have no choice, don't I? He's my brother. Stupid as he is.**" Bia Nen-wrote as she expanded her En. "**Besides, I don't really want to answer to Mommy and Daddy if I go back with a very much dead Meta.**"

The black unicorn laughed then.

_**I can imagine Kurapika going all berserk, but Kuroro? I imagine he'd say things like 'oh, the kid has it coming' or something like that.**_ Bara chortled while nudging Meta's motionless body with the tip of his hoof.

"**Daddy IS ruthless with his training.**" Bia agreed as she began to turn her attention towards one particular wall of the ravine after detecting traces of Nen there.

_**Sometimes I think that he wants to kill you kids when I see your trainings.**_ Bara said while following Bia as she began walking.

"**Well… I almost died once. And Mommy almost killed him because of that.**" Bia deadpanned, but there was a tinge of amusement in her voice.

_**And I imagine you dear Daddy still doesn't change his training regime for you guys, even after dear Mommy tried to murder him three times over?**_ Bara obviously was enjoying the conversation and the imagination that came with the content of said conversation.

"**Oh of course not. In fact, he intensified the training for me.**"

…_**.You Daddy is bat-shit insane.**_

"**Agreed. And here is where Meta's spirit has gone to.**" Bia stated as she stopped in front of the gaping fissure where Meta indeed had gone into.

Bara stepped to Bia's side and observed the fissure. He then snorted in disgust.

_**A cave fissure where the brat was washed ashore. Very convenient. And very much reeking of the supernatural. Someone—nay. Something arranged this. Some kind of spirit, I wager. Probably even some sort of demon. Can't really say from the smell. You can't smell it, can you, lass? Probably not. The brat also probably didn't notice, and he just right waltzed into the trap. How unusually stupid of him.**_

"**Well, it can't be helped. I'm going in. Bara, can you stay and guard Meta's body?**"

_**Aye-aye, missy. I ain't got no problem with that. I can't fit into that hole, anyway.**_ Bara said as he turned around and began walking in the direction of Meta's body, which was still laying prone half dry half wet, and pretty much bleeding river.

Bia took one step into the cave, and was interrupted with Bara's words.

_**By the way, do we leave him here, wet and bleeding to death?**_

"…"

* * *

Epiales' painting moved. The picture on the canvas moved, and it looked like a movie on a canvas. The painting showed Meta standing with Epiales behind him, hands on Meta's shoulders and body bent so that his head was near Meta's face. Then, something in the painting moved. Thin, transparent bluish white paint blossomed on the canvas, beginning from Epiales' mouth and spreading all over Meta. The bluish white paint thickened and cocooned Meta. After a while, the Meta in the painting began to shrivel into the likeness of a mummy. The flesh then began to dissolve, leaving only white skeleton. In no time, the skeleton also began to disintegrate into fine white ashes.

Meta wanted to scream, but he couldn't. His body refused to obey his command. In fact, he could feel his brain beginning to grow numb and shutting down. The white mist emitting from Epiales' mouth swam around his face.

"Did you see that?" Epiales cooed, his voice very much like a woman cooing a baby. "Beautiful, is it not?"

_The hell it is. You're one sick twisted bastard,_ was what Meta wanted to yell at him.

"What I paint will be reality."

Epiales' mouth drew closer to Meta's cheek. Meta could smell the sickening sweet smell as if Epiales had just dumped a jug full of sweet perfume on his person—it was the characteristic putrid smell of decay; of rotting flesh. It made him want to gag.

"Because this is my realm." Epiales continued to say.

From the corner of his eyes, Meta could see the row of pointy thingies in Epiales' gaping maw. They were pearly white, gruesomely apt for sharpness of those canines.

"So good of you to come to me, boy. I have been after you for quite some time, but there is always someone in my way…" Epiales snarled viciously as he recalled the irritating obstacles that had been annoying him for weeks. "But no matter. That is in the past, and now is now. I shall enjoy the savoury taste of your soul…"

More bluish white mist streamed out of Epiales' mouth.

"And my rank shall rise…"

Meta's eyes were still glued to the canvas when Epiales was rambling. Epiales was so absorbed in his gluttony that he didn't notice that Meta was staring at something that was rather out of place in the canvas. Something moved in the canvas. Something black, small, and with two golden eyes.

"_HIIIIIIISSSSS!_"

"AAAAAAAARRRGHHH!"

With a violent jerk, the cold hands clamped on Meta's shoulders were released and the spell paralyzing Meta's body was broken. The boy quickly leapt to the side and rolled around to see what was going on with that creep Epiales. As it turned out, apparently the two of them weren't the only one around in the area; or rather, in Epiales' realm.

It was a cat, and not just any other cat. It was THE cat; the one that Meta had been chasing after before he fell into the ravine (and yes the cat that he wanted to turn into a cat-kebab). The cat was attacking Epiales viciously; scratching him across the face, tearing his arms and legs. It was as if the cat had some God-awful grudge against Epiales since the previous life. Epiales himself was trying to get the equally God-awful cat off his person, but with not much luck. He didn't even know what was the thing that had been attacking him.

Among all the yowling, howling, screaming, screeching, and yelling among those two combatants, Meta took this opportunity to grab the canvas and tore it apart. He didn't know why he did that. He only assumed that the canvas was some kind of medium for Epiales to exert control on himself and Meta HATED being controlled by others. Without thinking much, he just destroyed it. If Bara was there, the black unicorn would have kicked him in the ass for carelessly destroying such things without even knowing for sure the consequences that would have happened.

But Meta couldn't care less.

And now he was ready to join the fray.

However, just as he thought of that, there was an unearthly shriek from the direction of the said fray. Meta turned toward Epiales and the feline, and he could see the former's body smoking as if he had just managed to put of a fire that had been burning him alive. Epiales' beautiful face had been horridly deformed, and it looked like the face of someone who had just survived an explosion. The flesh face rotting, the skin peeling off, and the bone beneath them were showing. His golden hairs were losing their lustre and were falling off from his scalp, revealing the skull underneath. As if his vocal cord had been dissolved by some acid, Epiales' voice was the epitome of nightmare.

_**YOUU BRAAAATTTSSSS! **_He—no, IT—shrieked in rage.

Discarding the cat to the side with its now clawed hand, the zombie-like creature charged at Meta. Meta took the easel from behind him and swung it mightily right smack to the creature's face. The wood shattered into smithereens, but it did little to impede the monster. It merely shook off the bits of splinters stuck on his face before it turned to Meta again.

Meta quickly used the Shadow Step technique that Killua had taught him to get behind the creature, and then blanketed his small fist with Ken before bringing it down on the creature's skull. However, instead of the satisfying crunch of the skull, Meta's fist merely bounced off the skull with a dull thud. Numbness crept from his fist to his whole arm. With a yelp, Meta dropped on his rump on the ground; surprised and astonished. The strength that he had put in his fist was enough to shatter a fat chunk of tree.

_**WhAt'sss the proBleM, bRat? **_It cackled viciously as it yet turned to Meta again. _**WhERe'S tHe STreNgtH tHaT YoU'Re sO PRoUd oF? YEs? **_

Meta attempted to pummel the creature again, but with the same result. In fact, Meta thought he had fractured his hand. The creature simply gave a downright evil guttural chortle that grated on Meta's ears.

_**Oh oH oOh…. ThE LitTLe dArLInG iS POwErleSs nOw, AYe? No DaDDy tO pROteCt YoU…. WhERe'S yOUr MIghTy DadDY?**_

Meta still had the gut to raise an eyebrow at the creature's words. His Dad? Why was it particularly referring to his Dad?

Mental note: ask his Dad whether he had pissed off some kind of zombie painter thingie in the past.

"What's with my Dad?" Meta _still_ asked.

The golden-eyed cat came to his side and hissed at him, and Meta had the distinct feeling that the cat was chastising him for getting distracted from the fight. Meta cringed, and then scowled at the cat. What was its problem, seriously?

_**OhOOo… DoN'T yOU kNoW? YOuR BiG bAD dADdY— **_The creature spat in disgust, _**lOvE His DarLInG LiTTLe BoY sO MucH, He PuTs So mUCh oBStaClEs iN My wAY!**_

"…You're not making any sense, do you know that?"

The cat scratched Meta's leg, and the zombie-thingie screeched in rage.

"What?!" Meta tried to kick the cat but missed. "Of course any parents who love their kids would try to pro—OH MY FLYING BLASTED UNICORN WHAT THE HECK!"

The reason that Meta screamed like that was because that pretty little black cat was suddenly shrouded by inky blackness that seemed to ooze from the body of that feline. The darkness quickly solidified into the shape of a golden-eyed black lioness; or more like a gargantuan panther. The panther snarled in the general direction of Epiales; revealing pearly rows of canines, as it slinked its body in such a way that it covered Meta.

"What in the name of seven hells are you?!" Meta glared at the cat suspiciously.

_**Instead of interrogating me, I shall suggest that you keep your eyes on Epiales**__,_ the panther scoffed with a decidedly feminine voice.

"You talk!"

Rolling her eyes in annoyance, the panther merely whacked Meta upside the head with her great tail. The whack made Meta stagger, and as Meta regained his balance, Meta obediently looked at Epiales. However, he couldn't find that disgusting zombie thingie there.

Instead of a God-awful fugly zombie, Meta saw a….an angel?

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__Another update! Oh, just to clarify things in case some people get confused. Bia discovering Meta's body in the ravine and Meta confronting Epiales happen at the same time. So Meta is actually doing astral projection unconsciously. _

_So review please?_


	23. Meta's Nen part 12: Daemons

_Part 12 of the story about Meta's Nen: in which Meta discovered about daemons._

* * *

**Part 12**

**_DAEMONS_**

* * *

_**My, My…**_Angel-Epiales chuckled while throwing back his golden hair over his broad shoulder, his gigantic black wings flapping in the air as he floated. _**Look at who do we have here. My Lady Bast!**_

The panther; Bast, snarled.

_**Keep your filthy hands off this boy, Epiales. This boy is off-limits**__. _Bast warned him.

_**Is that so? And why is that? **_Angel-Epiales tilted his head to the side innocently.

_**Don't play dumb. You do know of his lineage**__._ Bast's snarl became more savage then, as if she was insulted by Epiales.

_**His parentage is that of humans. He is a fair game.**_ Epiales waved a hand; dismissing Bast's assertions. _**Besides, you will find that I am not the only one who adopts that belief. In fact, I suppose you are one of the very few who believe that he and his little siblings are off limits. **_

Meta's eyes widened. He didn't know what was going on, but he was smart enough to be able to deduce that they both were of the same inhuman species, and humans were food for them, and that they were disputing over whether Epiales could eat him or not. Meta himself wasn't so bothered by the fact that someone—or rather, something—was trying to eat him because it happened before. A LOT of time. However, at the mention of his little siblings being targets of prey, Meta decided that he needed to know what _exactly _was going on.

"Hold it, hold it!" Meta clapped his hands to get the two creatures' attention. "I am present here, and I would very much like to have someone explaining to me what the bloody heck is going on right now, thank you very much."

What Meta got was a smack on the head by Bast, and a string of laughter from a very much amused Epiales.

_**Do you not know what we are, boy?**_ Epiales asked him with a mocking tone.

"Nope. I haven't finished reading Dad's Encyclopedia of All Living Things."

_**You will do well to finish reading that book.**_ Bast groused, clearly annoyed by Meta's lack of knowledge. _**We are daemons.**_

"Oh. And?"

_**And Epiales there is a Daemon of Nightmare. Who was trying to devour your soul and would have succeeded in it had I not taken matters into my hands.**_

"Into your paws, you mean."

Bast smacked him in the head again.

_**And the beautiful Lady Bast there is a Daemon of Protection. Who loves your Daddy so much she would risk her life to protect his offspring.**_

"What?!"

_**Stop speaking lies. **_Bast spat angrily. _**My service is for the Lady Ishtar.**_

_**Who is dead. **_Epiales jeered.

_**It matters not. I have pledged myself to her blood. And this boy is of her blood. **_Bast bared her fangs again. _**So if you intend to devour those of her blood, I shall devour you first. Forget not, Epiales, that I am a Devourer. **_

"A Devourer?" Meta quipped.

_**Enough nonsense! **_Bast roared. _**Leave now, Epiales, and I shall spare you! Harm this family, and I shall devour you whole!**_

Epiales levitated in the air, weighing the situation. He really wanted to eat the boy whole. He lusted after the boy's soul. Souls weren't daemon's only food. They could any kind of lifeforce from any living things; from animals, from plants, from the Earth itself. In fact, a daemon would never starve as they could always eat the endless lifeforce from the Earth. However, human souls were regarded as the tastiest and the most filling of all kind of lifeforce. However, the Laws decreed that certain humans with very specific lineage were forbidden. Ironically, these humans had the most delicious souls possible for daemons.

Apparently, Meta was one of them.

However, Epiales didn't want to risk it. Epiales and Bast might be fellow daemons, but even daemons had their own hierarchy. They had their own systems to recognise each other's ranks, which was similar to the food chain in the animal kingdom. Bast's rank was way above Epiales'. In fact, Bast was one of the Greater daemons. If Bast put her mind into it, she could shred Epiales into ribbons. Besides, the most important consideration of all was the fact that she was; as she had claimed, a Devourer.

A Devourer was a special type of daemons; they were Greater daemons who could devour other daemons. daemons could be restored even after they were killed. Even when the body was shredded into pieces, it could be restored into its full glory as long as their essence was intact. However, a Devourer tore apart and ate the essence. A daemon that had been devoured could never be restored again.

So Epiales decided to make a strategic retreat.

For now.

_**Very well, then. Since the lady insists, I shall withdraw now and leave you alone, boy. If fate shall allow, perhaps we will meet again.**_ Epiales said with a wink at Meta; which Meta returned with a "yuck!"

_**The next time I see you, I will not be lenient, **_Bast said with a low guttural growl.

_**If you say so, **_Epiales bowed mockingly at Bast, _**and I believe you can take him back to his body, my lady. I shall take my leave now.**_

With that, Epiales evaporated into the air, leaving no trace of him. Meta stared at the point where Epiales had been, and then he turned to the massive panther standing in front of him. The panther was still growling; her coat bristling furiously, but soon her rage receded and she turned to look at Meta. Her golden eyes scanned Meta from the top of his head down to his toe, and Meta shuffled on his feet uneasily. He didn't like it when people looked at him like that; scanning him up to down.

_**You are unharmed, I see. **_The panther finally said at length.

"More or less." Meta murmured. Then, something clicked in his mind. "You made me fall into the ravine!"

_**Did I?**_ Bast smirked and raised an eyebrow, panther style.

"You led me to the ravine!"

_**Indeed. And that was all that I did. I did not push you into the ravine, did I?**_

"Yeah, but you tricked me into falling into it!" Meta yelled in indignation.

_**Details, my lad, details. **_

"Still! I—"

_**Hush, lad. We shall discuss the details later, but for now we shall get your soul back to your husk of a body. **_The panther began walking to the direction of the hole where Meta had emerged from.

"—almost died—What?! Soul? Body?"

To Meta's surprise, Bast gave a pleasant-sounding laughter.

_**Did you not realise that you are in your spirit form? **_Bast gazed at Meta with a softness that instantly put Meta at ease. He felt like looking at a less sarcastic version of Bara.

"I am?"

_**Indeed. This is your soul, and it is in your body's shape because this is how you perceive yourself. However, you can always change the shape of your soul when you have mastered yourself.**_ Bast purred.

"Really? I can change shape? How?"

Bast opened her jaw and was about to answer him when her ear perked up. She lifted up her massive head and looked towards the general direction of the ravine.

_**I shall teach you, but now we have to make haste. Your soul has wandered out of your body for too long. You are still an amateur at this, your Nen is still too young and untrained. It will bring you ill if you stay out for too long. Come now.**_

With that, Bast leapt into the hole and Meta had no choice but to follow. During the trip back, Bast was generous enough to explain to Meta what had been happening.

_**Epiales wants your soul, as you perhaps have realised by now from our conversation earlier. He is a daemon of Nightmare. He is leeching off your lifeforce through the nightmares that he has been inflicting upon you. **_

"Those nightmares are from him?! Why, I oughtta—"

_**However,**_ Bast cut him off,_** he was not satisfied with it as he can only siphon very little from the nightmare. As you probably have realised, your nightmares always end at certain point. That is because beyond that point is the point where Epiales would have entered the nightmare itself, manifesting himself into the nightmare itself and then draining you of your lifeforce. Your little friend Ksa has been doing a good job, but he cannot stay away from his abode for too long. He has to go back. **_

"And that's where you come in. When Ksa went home, you came." Meta said enthusiastically, putting the pieces together.

_**Indeed,**_ Bast purred happily. She liked talking with clever humans. Dumb ones were just so irritating.

"So who sent you?" Meta asked as he walked right beside the panther.

_**Another daemon sent me.**_ Bast answered casually.

"Oh? But I don't have any daemon friends."

_**You do not. But your parents do.**_

"Wow…"

Soon enough, they reached the other end of the tunnel that ended up at the bottom of the ravine. The two of them emerged into the light, and Meta began looking for his body but it was nowhere to be seen. He went to the spot where he had woken up—as advised by Bast—but his body wasn't there.

"It's gone…"

_**Not quite. Somebody has secured your body, to protect it from the elements. **_Bast said amusedly as she padded silently behind Meta. _**Look over there.**_

Using her freakishly long tail, Bast pushed Meta's cheek so that he turned to look to one particular direction. Meta quickly saw his body, with a white-haired girl and a black unicorn guarding it. Meta groaned.

_**What is the matter, boy?**_ Bast asked curiously. The boy didn't sound like he wanted to go back to his body.

"Bia's gonna fry me crisp…"

* * *

Which was indeed the second thing that Bia did to Meta, the first being her face lighting up with relief. It went without saying that Bia lashed at Meta furiously for being the reckless idiot he was. She demanded that he told him what he had been doing, but Meta managed to calm her down and told her that he was going to tell the whole story when they had gone back home and he had washed up since he felt to icky with all the blood and the dirt and the water all over his body.

Bast, in the meanwhile, had become her normal cat appearance and behaved like a proper normal cat. Bia hadn't seen her panther form because that was Bast's daemon form. Normal humans couldn't see daemons with naked eyes. She also told Meta not to tell them about her being a daemon, but Bara seemed to recognise her as he kept throwing a curious glance at her; which Bast ignored.

_**Alright! Taking off now!**_ Bara said as he unfurled his mighty wings and took off from the ground with a strong leap. Bia and Meta were on his back, with Bia carrying Bast because the cat refused to be hold by a very wet Meta.

When they reached the edge of the cliff where Meta had fallen from, Meta felt like he should jump back into the ravine.

Waiting at the edge of the cliff was a very anxious Una, a very amused Kuroro, and a very, _VERY_ livid Kurapika.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__Daemons! This was a sudden inspiration that came from the research of cat deity and Epiales. Well, there would be explanations about daemons in the Creatures category in the next chapter, if you want it. _

_And now we would see Kurapika going mad-bull on Meta, and let's see how they deal with Bast. But who's the daemon who sent Bast to Meta's rescue? Can anyone guess?_


	24. Meta's Nen part 13: The Arrangement

_Part 13 of the story about Meta's Nen: in which arrangements were made to allow Meta to develop his Nen properly._

* * *

**Part 13**

**_THE ARRANGEMENT_**

* * *

Apparently, Kurapika wasn't as livid as she appeared, as much as Kuroro wasn't as amused as he appeared. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Kurapika was worried sick to the point of murderous rage, and Kuroro was actually trying to amuse himself by entertaining the thought of going homicidal on global scale in order to distract himself from actually losing his temper.

In fact, this was perhaps the first time Meta had seen his father so angry at him that Kuroro _quietly _called Meta to his study room while barring everyone, including even _Kurapika_, from entry.

His mother certainly didn't help by saying "You have it coming, Meta."

So that was how Meta found himself standing in the middle of the study room, with the Encyclopaedia of All Living Things on his head, and with two arms extended ram-rod straight to his side while both were holding a bucket full of water. Apparently, it seemed that Kuroro still thought it was funny enough to punish Meta with the kind of punishment that Meta hated the most while he had some _nice_ talk with his firstborn.

Meta himself didn't mind so much the punishment, but what he almost couldn't bear was that creepy smile that his father had on his face. Meta had never seen his father putting that kind of smile on anyone in the family, but he could feel the incandescent anger radiating from behind that devilish smile.

And the scariest thing was that Kuroro had never been angry at the children. Sure, he scolded them and punished them accordingly when they got out of line, but he had never shown his anger towards them. This time, he showed Meta painfully clearly that he. Was. Angry.

Worse still was the fact that Meta was an Empath. He could tangibly feel his father's emotion oozing off his person like some dense radioactive mist; which intensified as soon as Meta had finished telling him of everything that had happened in the ravine, as well as the scuffle between Meta, Epiales, and Bast. And Meta couldn't lie about anything because of Kuroro's partial True Vision that he had inherited from Isthar.

"Have you had your fun, Meta?"

Meta gulped. Judging from Kuroro's tone, Meta knew that he was in for some excruciating, extended punishment.

"Well?" Kuroro asked with a tinge of impatient in his tone.

"Well…" Meta wanted badly to shuffle his feet, "do I have to answer it?"

"And why shouldn't you answer it?"

"Uh…" Meta stared at the hardwood floor at his feet. They looked incredibly nice. "Because I don't know the answer?"

"And why, pray tell, do you not know the answer?"

"Uh…Because…"

"Look at me when you speak to me, boy." His father said firmly and coldly, not unlike a teacher who was sick of a student who always fell asleep in his class.

Meta dared to look into Kuroro's abysmal eyes despite how dreadfully scary they were. Kuroro was standing in front of his work desk, feet slightly spread apart and arms folded across his chest. His eyes were narrowed slightly and his customary white bandana was absent (as it always was when he was at home). Kuroro's whole demeanour was a very strong resemblance of a commander, and it scared Meta shitless even more. His father was always cool and laid back. He was stern when needed to be, but _never _tense. Not like this.

"Why—" Meta started, intending to ask why his father was making such a big deal over this. It wasn't unusual of him to get into troubles. Besides, he managed to resolve this one without any collateral damage!

"You do not think, that's why." Kuroro interjected him sharply. "You don't think far. You don't think of consequences. You don't think of possibilities."

Meta winced. Kuroro strode toward Meta while still talking like a drill sergeant.

"You have more than enough experience to make you start thinking of consequences and possibilities, with all the catastrophes and havocs you have single-handedly incurred. But apparently it still does not happen." Kuroro stopped a few feet before Meta and looked down at him. "Why is that?"

The blond boy fought the urge to look away and daringly stared into his father's onyx eyes. They were burning with repressed rage. From up this close, Meta realised just how much his father was restraining himself from taking his anger out on something—he looked like he could nuke a city. It was amazing how much self-restraint the man possessed.

"You are smart and inquisitive, Meta. But you don't realise that you lack the proper knowledge in the right department, which makes you _very_ reckless. You have no self-restraint."

"But—!"

Meta had intended to protest and to defend his bruised ego, but he found himself speechless and his body trembling. Kuroro's Nen was tearing at him, literally beating him down into submission. Cold sweats started to form on his temples and his nape as Meta tried to keep his knees from turning into useless jelly. Kuroro Lucifer was _furious_.

"And obviously we have been too lenient on you." Kuroro said in a manner that was reminiscent to a snarl.

_**Good. The boy clearly is in dire need of a good lesson on discipline.**_ A voice drifted into the room from everywhere, which was soon followed by the appearance of a lady with sensual Arabic features on her visage, body, and wardrobe.

Kuroro didn't seem surprise by the sudden appearance of the guest, as he merely turned his head toward her and gave her a curt nod.

"Scheherazade," he greeted her flatly.

"Hello, Kuroro Lucifer." She smiled broadly. "Carry on, do not mind me. I am merely here to observe more closely on how you are going to discipline that wild offspring of yours."

"He will have his proper lessons in due time." Kuroro said scathingly while glaring at Meta, before he turned to Scheherazade fully. "And you were the one who sent the cat daemon to Meta." It was more of a question than a statement.

"Indeed." Scheherazade laughed, her voice trilling like a bird's song. "I have told you that I will aid your little boy as I see fit."

Kuroro smiled, and this time it was a genuine, non-angry smile. For a fleeting moment, Meta thought that the crisis was over. Oh, how wrong he was.

"Fit, indeed." His smile turned into a grin; an impish grin that froze Meta's spine and let him know that he was in a deeper shit than before. "If you can be so kind as to properly introduce me to your daemon friend?"

"Certainly."

As if answering to the cue, the black cat emerged from among the folds of Scheherazade's skirt. As the golden-eyed cat padded silently across the floor, the inky black substance rose and enveloped its lithe body. By the time it stood a few feet away from Kuroro, the cat had turned into the gargantuan panther that had protected Meta in Epiales' realm.

_**Greetings to you, who are of Lady Isthar's blood. I am Bast. **_The panther lowered her head as if in a bow.

Kuroro returned the gesture politely.

"Bast the Devourer." Kuroro acknowledged her respectfully and yet casually enough. "Ishtar had mentioned you before."

_**I am honoured. And I am pleased to see that you are as knowledgeable as I would have expected from the Lady's sole protégé.**_ Bast purred gently.

"I take it that you understand the nature of this boy's Nen?" Kuroro asked, straight into business.

_**Indeed. I have once mentored a human who was gifted with the same Nen. He died an honourable death.**_ Bast proclaimed proudly, like a mother boasting her perfect son.

Kuroro raised an eyebrow at Bast's last statement, but decided not to say anything about it. Meta, however, looked like he had just heard Bast announcing death sentence to him. Kuroro had said that Meta had no self-restraint, but perhaps he should have given the boy the deserved credits of not fainting dead away when Kuroro tore at him with his Nen and for maintaining the Encyclopaedia-of-All-Living-Things-on-the-head-and-a-buckeful-of-water-in-each-hand-with-arms-extended-ram-rod-straight-to-his-side posture for more than an hour or two.

"Are you willing to mentor Meta?"

_**Certainly. He has the potential. The only thing that he lacks is discipline,**_ the massive feline said with a glint in her golden eyes directed at Meta—who yelped at the intense I-am-going-to-eat-you-up-alive stare.

"Very good." Kuroro clapped his hands together enthusiastically, "I will leave him in your care as soon as I have instilled the discipline into him permanently."

Meta made a funny choking sound at this. While his father had said it with a dreadfully cheery tone, Meta knew that it would only mean 'Hell Beyond Hell' training.

_**An agreeable proposition. **_Bast nodded, and she turned to Meta. _**You will do good to listen to your father, as I believe that he has more patience in dealing with little fiend of destruction like you than I do. If you come to me without the proper attitude and discipline, I will not hesitate to employ the use of my fangs and claws to beat you into it. Are we clear?**_

"Yes! Crystal clear, Ma'am!" Meta squeaked as bravely as he could.

_**Good.**_ Bast turned back to Kuroro. _**I shall be around. Should you need me, speak my name and I shall come to you. **_

"Very well." Kuroro nodded.

_**I shall take my leave now. Good day to you, Kuroro Lucifer.**_

With that, Bast evaporated into an inky vapour that quickly dissolved into the air. Meta threw a wary glance at his father, before he gave a sigh of resignation. His fate was sealed.

"I see that Bast has taken an immediate liking to you. And I can see that she has taken the duty of being your little monster's mentor sincerely and eagerly." Scheherazade sang gleefully.

"Truthfully, I have expected to handle a less-than-agreeable character, considering that she was one of Isthar's so-called vassals." Kuroro confessed.

"Speaking from personal experience, are you not?" Scheherazade hummed.

Kuroro simply threw her a lopsided grin, before he turned to Meta to deliver the final verdict.

* * *

"A daemon."

"Yes. A daemon."

"You are going to give a temporary full custody of Meta to a daemon until Meta masters his Nen."

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

Kuroro and Kurapika were in their bedroom, with Kuroro telling Kurapika of what had transpired in the ravine and of the deal with Bast. As expected, Kurapika almost went hysterics at the part where Epiales almost devoured Meta's soul. She had been educated that Nen was the manifestation of a person's soul, so a person's soul was the purest core of a person's Nen. As Kurapika had experienced agony when her Nen was shattered, she understood well what would happen when Meta's Nen was eaten by that God-forsaken Daemon. She almost went apoplexy just imagining it. And as expected, Kurapika wasn't too happy with the arrangement of handing over the boy to a daemon for mentorship.

Creatures were divided into types; fairies, genies, ghosts, vampires, werewolves, unicorns, elves, demons, wraiths, dragons, nymphs, deities, humans, and many else. Those who didn't belong in any of the specific types were generally called daemons. Daemons were one of the types among Creatures who could alternate between the flesh and the spirit; they were generally spirits, but they could materialise into flesh when they wanted to.

"Is Anansi also a daemon?"

"I don't know for sure, but he's perhaps a Deity. Ishtar was probably a Deity as well..."

"In that case, Seiryuu, Suzaku, Genbu, and Byakko are Deities as well." Kurapika said with a raised eyebrow.

"It would appear so." Kuroro nodded.

Kurapika was massaging the bridge of her nose, no doubt wondering just how the heck she had ended up getting daemons and other supernatural acquaintances.

"Meta was scared." Kurapika suddenly stated.

Kuroro raised an eyebrow, his eyes asking "elaborate."

"He didn't understand why you were so angry at him. I've never seen you that upset either." Kurapika leaned closer to him. "Why?"

Kurapika knew that Kuroro was angry not because Meta had gotten himself into yet another trouble. The boy had done that God-knew-how-many-times-already in the past, and they were used to it. Kurapika knew that this had to do with the fact that Meta was dealing with a daemon, but she didn't understand why Kuroro made such a big deal over it. Kuroro usually never fussed about this kind of thing. She knew that there were things that Kuroro knew about daemons that she didn't know, and that was what bothered Kuroro.

Kuroro didn't look at Kurapika. He seemed like he was contemplating whether to tell Kurapika or not.

"Lucian brought me to see his sire, the Count of Wallachia." The Spider Head finally said.

The Kuruta's eyes widened. Now this was a big deal. Lucian mentioned in a passing that he wouldn't ever bring anyone to consult anything to his 'father' unless it was nearing doomsday. He didn't say why, though.

"The Count knew of a person who had a Nen just like Meta's." Kuroro said with an uncharacteristically quiet voice. Kurapika found this disturbing. "That was a few centuries ago."

"What happened to him?" Kurapika asked softly.

"He died." Kuroro turned to look at Kurapika in the eyes. "His soul was devoured by daemons in his sleep."

Kurapika could feel the blood drained from her, leaving her cold in the inside.

"He was an advanced Nen user. He was well acquaintance with the ways of the daemons. He knew their tricks. He had a few Lesser Daemons servants."

"Then how…"

"They turned on him. According to the Count, the daemons went mad with the desire for his soul. Apparently, he hadn't properly managed his daemon servants. Lesser Daemons are more susceptible to succumb to their desire, it seems. And so they are more tricky than most." Kuroro said dryly.

"Then why are you sending Meta to a daemon?!" Kurapika exclaimed in alarm.

"Bast is a Greater Daemon of Protection, who has sworn loyalty to Ishtar's _blood_." Kuroro said calmly despite Kurapika's outburst.

"And that's a guarantee enough?" Kurapika snapped.

"Yes." Kuroro said while clasping his hands together. "Unlike a servant, a daemon vassal is generally more loyal. Bast is a daemon vassal sworn on _fidelity_ to Ishtar's blood. That means _we_ are safe as long as she is around. But there is no guarantee for the generations to come, since by then Ishtar's blood would be too diluted to be recognised."

Upon seeing Kurapika about to interject, Kuroro raised a hand to stop her.

"Should that happen, she will simply leave."

"You seem to know an awful lot about her." Kurapika asked suspiciously.

"…When I was a child, Isthar repeatedly told me to memorise a list of names." Kuroro said quietly with a faraway look in his eyes as he recalled that day decades ago. "She had said that those are the names of the 'people' whom I can rely to when in times of danger. Coming from Ishtar, that is a 'big deal', as you'd call it." Kuroro smirked at Kurapika. "And Bast is among them. One of the first names, actually."

"Still…"

"Scheherazade is a Greater Daemon, and she isn't even Ishtar's vassal."

Kurapika's eyes widened, but they soon shone with understanding. Scheherazade was annoying at times, but she had been mighty helpful and trustworthy to them. If Bast was anything like Scheherazade, then perhaps Kurapika could trust her.

"Meta doesn't know anything about daemons. He thinks they are the same as Una and Bara." Kuroro said, going back to the topic on why he had gone apoplectic on Meta. "Whatever catastrophes that Meta has managed to land himself into before, they were nowhere near dangerous for him."

"Yeah… They merely came with massive collateral damages…" Kurapika muttered as she recalled one particular incident of Meta blowing up Lucian's underground laboratory.

"This time, it is serious. Meta doesn't know the risk of this game he's playing. This is a risk that I am not willing to take." Kuroro said firmly.

Kuroro had never been angry and merely amused at his son's antics because they let him see how creative he could be. However, this time it was different. The possibility of losing of his firstborn was something that he would not gamble.

"_We reject no one, so take nothing from us."_

He would be damned if he lost his own flesh and blood.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__Yes, so the solution to Meta's Nen problem is to find a daemon teacher who has experience with the same kind of Nen. A bit anti-climactic, but even I don't know how to solve this kind of problem. Anyway, it seems to me that it would be fun to sic a you-listen-to-me-or-I'll-kill-you kind of teacher like Bast to the untameable- god-of-destruction Meta. I have always wanted to show Kuroro getting angry at the kids. That would make him appear less of the I-don't-care parent, and also a bit on insight on how he feels about Meta going around raising hells and him getting into dangerous situation in general._

_Reviews, people! _


	25. Meta's Nen part 14: Payback

_Part 14 of the story about Meta's Nen: in which Meta managed to get back at Epiales for the nightmares that had tortured him._

* * *

**Part 14**

**_PAYBACK_**

* * *

"How long more until we reach home?"

_**If nothing obscures our path, tomorrow high noon we shall reach your hometown. Rest now. **_

"Alright. Good night, Bast."

_**Sleep well, child.**_

As Meta curled himself into a ball near the campfire, Bast lay down on the opposite side of their quaint little camp. They were on their way back from their training camp to Meta's hometown, as Meta had finished his training with Bast. The cat daemon had spirited the boy into some remote, God-forsaken place that nobody could find, and had commenced the training immediately.

As promised by Kuroro Lucifer, he had sent the boy to her when he had straightened him up with the proper attitude and iron discipline for learning. Truthfully, Meta had never seen sadistically strict side of his father and he would do anything not to be the receiving end of that persona ever again. The cat daemon, at the same time, was an equally sadistically strict teacher as Kuroro could be, if not more. Apparently, she took it upon herself to make Meta an even more powerful Daemonmaster than her previous pupils.

A Daemonmaster was a human with the extremely rare gift of seeing and controlling daemons. According to Bast, there were only a handful of such humans in existence, and Meta was the only one in at least his century. Daemons measured superiority by way of the quality of souls; or in human case, Nen. Lesser Daemons were subject to Greater Daemons, and Greater Daemons were given more privileges that Lesser Daemons. Daemonmaster could only control daemons whose souls were inferior to the Daemonmaster's own, and so they were vulnerable to daemons with superior souls. Most Daemonmasters could only control majority of Lesser Daemons and few of the lesser Greater Daemons. There were always risks of Daemonmasters being devoured by daemons; both by the 'wild' ones and their own servants, when their guard was down.

Knowing that risk all too painfully, Bast made sure that Meta remembered all the rules by heart. She was fond of the boy, despite how wilful he was.

"Mmhh…"

Bast's ears perked up when she caught the faint groan from Meta. Her golden eyes observed the sleeping figure of the eight-years-old. The boy's face was scrunched up, his brows furrowing and his jaw clenching. He was obviously having a very disturbed sleep, and Bast knew why. Bast then merely rested her huge head on top of her crossed paws, but she didn't close her golden eyes. They were fixed on the small figure curling across the campfire.

The daemon might refuse to offer help to the suffering little human child, but she would keep vigilant.

* * *

The blasted son of a bitch was back.

After two years, he was finally back and Meta was happy because now he could take his revenge.

Meta was standing in the middle of the clearing where he first met Epiales face-to-face. The place was exactly the same, minus the painting equipment and Epiales himself. The Daemon of Nightmare was nowhere to be seen. Actually, Meta had seen neither the hide nor hair of that lousy misbegotten excuse of a daemon for the past years. Since the revelation by Bast that Epiales was the cause of his nightmares, the boy had been plotting revenge against the daemon.

The half-breed Kuruta stood there, surveying his surroundings while pretending to be clueless. He could feel Epiales nearby, but couldn't exactly pinpoint his location yet. Meta was rather disappointed for not being able to locate the daemon, but this was Epiales' domain. It was little to no wonder that a beginner Daemonmaster like Meta couldn't really wrestle full control over another daemon's realm.

Likewise, he also didn't realise the pair of golden eyes observing him from far away.

Meta tilted his head sideways and crossed his arms on his chest as he began thinking. Soon enough, he shrugged and began looking around. Finding a nice long thin branch, Meta used it to draw on the dry soil. He squatted down and hummed, putting unusual amount of effort into drawing a particular design on the dirt.

Maybe a long time had passed, or maybe it was just a few minutes. Time was essentially out of balance in the realm of daemons, but Meta continued with his task unbothered. Soon enough, his effort to be patient paid off as _someone_ finally came out of his hiding. Meta could hear the flap of wings, but he didn't look up from his drawing. He continued drawing, but he had ceased his humming.

_**Hello there, boy. I have missed you.**_ Epiales purred as he descended from the sky and hovered above the ground slightly.

"I miss you too. I've been searching for you." Meta said gleefully.

Epiales raised an eyebrow.

_**Why, you flatter me.**_ The daemon jeered condescendingly as he began to 'prowl' towards the boy. _**You have been looking for me? I have been looking **_**after**_** you.**_

Meta made a snort but he still refused to look up from his drawing. One might ponder whether this was from sheer recklessness or utter confidence.

_**Do you not know? I have been around you for the past two years!**_ Epiales purred as he inched closer towards Meta.

Meta didn't reply and still didn't look up even when he had finished the drawing. He let his hand hover above the drawing and his eyebrows were furrowed ever so slightly as if in concentration.

_**I know Bast has been training you. I saw your training**_. Epiales' voice was closer, about only a few metres away from the boy.

Meta ignored him and resumed whatever he was doing diligently.

_**But you are nothing without that bitch.**_Epiales spat.

And he was rewarded with a pair of eyes that seemed to be shooting laser beams at him.

"Do not…" Meta snarled; Scarlet Eyes blazing, as he stood up every so slowly, "…speak ill…"

The drawing that Meta did on the dirt began to glow eerily.

"Of my teacher!"

It happened so fast and so abrupt that Epiales was once again taken off guard. Accompanying Meta's angry roar was the appearance of _something _just above the glowing drawing on the ground, and it leapt towards Epiales hungrily before it even took solid form. Epiales had been so distracted by the glowing inscription on the soil that he didn't have time to dodge the incoming attack.

His carelessness cost him his arm.

With the yowl of a wounded beast; a sound that didn't befit his angelic appearance, Epiales lurched backwards in attempt to distance himself from whatever it was that had come barrelling towards him and chewed off his arm in the process. He spun around to face his assailant, and his face soon was white-washed with unbridled fear.

Standing a few metres away from him was an odd creature that made one thinks that God had been so hasty in its creation that He just dumped ready-to-use body parts without realizing that they were all of different species. The creature had an elephant head complete with its tusks and trunk, with the body of a tapir, an ox tail, and tiger paws—a Baku. Humans usually regarded Baku as a shy, good-natured creature. However, for an entity of nightmare like Epiales, Baku was the bane of their existence. It was appropriate to liken the Baku as a hungry tiger in the eyes of Epiales.

And this particular Baku was eyeing Epiales like he was the most succulent piece of steaming hot steak it had ever come across. It was as if the Baku was in synch with Meta's hunger for revenge against Epiales, as if Meta's ill-will towards Epiales fuelled the Baku's hunger. What more, Baku was a Greater Daemon. It was above of Epiales in terms of the daemons' food chain.

So basically Epiales was screwed. Big time.

And he knew it.

Without wasting any more time, Epiales turned one hundred eighty degrees before dashing away to get the hell away from the scene. Of course it went to say that Meta was going to have none of it. The Baku sprang towards Epiales without a word of command from Meta; its mind having been assimilated to Meta's since the first time they made the 'contract' between the daemon and the Daemonmaster.

The tiger claws weren't just for decoration; Baku used it to tear Epiales' wings to shreds easily and hence incapacitating the latter's attempt for escape. As soon as Epiales dropped to the ground with a cry of pain, Baku pounced on him and held the daemon down using its front paws. Epiales thrashed around for a while, but quickly stilled when Baku growled menacingly at him.

"Not looking so good now, aren't we?" Meta sang-song as he approached a very much subdued Epiales.

_**You little mongrel. You are not supposed to be able to command a Greater Daemon like Baku! **_Epiales snarled.

"You think so?" Meta squatted down in front of Epiales. "Well, apparently Baku is willing to be my friends, so he's cool with it."

_**Friend? Daemons will not lower themselves to befriend filthy human like you!**_ Epiales snorted in disdain, but it was soon followed by a yelp of pain as Baku growled and his claws dug nastily into the Lesser Daemon's flesh.

"Really? Strange. I would think the status of a 'servant' would be more insulting than a 'friend'. So you'd rather be a servant than a friend?" Meta drawled innocently, but his tone had closely resemblance to the tone that his father often used when mocking others.

Epiales looked like Meta had just slapped him silly left-right-up-down-front-back.

"Well, Baku is my friend." Meta said while reaching out to pat the Greater Daemon's trunk. "Oh, and he happens to be really hungry, you know?"

The Daemon of Nightmares paled. Baku was a Creature who devoured nightmares. In other words, Baku was a Greater Daemon who devoured Daemons of Nightmares the likes of Epiales. Baku was a Devourer, and Epiales was—quite literally—the food.

"Since you don't want to be my friend—not that I want you to be my friend, anyway—I think I'll let Baku does whatever he wants with you. Right, Baku?" Meta looked up to grin brightly at the Greater Daemon.

_**If it pleases you, my friend. **_Baku replied with his deep reverberating voice, and his eyes and voice were soft when directed as the little master.

"Well, that settles it. Ta-taaah." Meta waved goodbye at Epiales with a frighteningly innocent look on his face.

Baku didn't wait until Meta walked away from the scene. Besides, it didn't look like Meta was going to budge from his place any time soon. Without hesitation, Baku proceeded to satiate his hunger. Claws and fangs extended, he made quick work of Epiales.

All the while, Meta observed the whole procession quietly with morbid fascination in his dark blue eyes. Soon after, a pair of golden eyes disappeared.

* * *

Bast was beguiled. She had seen that glint in Meta's eyes, and it had prompted her to depart from the daemon realm. The boy had willingly witnessed the devouring of a daemon—which was never a pleasant thing and was usually quite a traumatic experience for beginner Daemonmaster—and it sent chills down her spine. The look in Meta's eyes wasn't that of an innocent child. Somewhere in his psyche, Meta had the making of a killer.

The daemon then began to wonder.

Bast had been greatly amused by Meta's thirst for retribution, and had no qualms in goading him further to elevate the level of Meta's vengeance from Terrible to Catastrophic level. However, she did warn him to be more tactful when dealing with Greater Daemons. Epiales was an average daemon, and that was why Bast hadn't tried to dissuade the boy from such hazardous endeavour. With Meta's level of Nen presently, Bast had complete faith that Meta would emerge unscathed if he was to battle Epiales.

She had expected Meta to get back at Epiales for all those nightmares from years back. She had expected Meta to summon some other Greater Daemons just to rub it in Epiales' face to shame him. She had expected it to be rough for Epiales.

She hadn't expected the boy to sentence the daemon to the worst possible punishment for all daemons.

_Perhaps_, Bast thought fleetingly, _the boy indeed has what it takes to be a mighty Daemonmaster. _

Meta didn't want the daemons to be his servants. He had called them his friends. Those daemons who had approached or been approached by Meta had been most touched by the boy's sentiment, and thus had pledged loyalty by blood to the boy. No doubt that Baku was one of them.

Most Daemonmasters were harsh and cruel to their daemon servants because of their own fear towards the daemons; they had hoped to control the daemons using sheer dominance, but it didn't really work that way with daemons. If anything, most daemons could smell the fear from Daemonmasters. You couldn't be too harsh because the daemons would have had enough and they would rebel. At the same time, you couldn't be too nice to the daemons as they might walk all over you and control you instead of the other way round. Meta seemed to know how to stand between those two extremities. Perhaps it was in his blood…

"Mm…Bast?" Meta stirred and cracked one eye open.

Bast rose and circled the campfire until she reached the boy. She then lay down next to him and licked his face. Meta inched closer to Bast to absorb more warmth from the feline's massive body.

_**You did well, young one.**_ Bast purred fondly.

"He has it coming." Meta whispered groggily.

_**Indeed. **_Bast rested her head down. _**Now sleep.**_

Meta giggled and then nuzzled his face to Bast's flank before falling asleep fast. One wouldn't have guessed that the boy with angelic sleeping face had just witnessed a human-looking daemon being torn to shreds and devoured a few minutes prior. Bast couldn't deny that the notion chilled her inside.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__As mentioned in Angel's Prayer, Meta inherited some of Kuroro's psychological traits; ones that Kurapika wouldn't like. And now we see the budding of the dangerous part of his psyche. Hopefully he won't be a psychopath killer, yeah? That would be scary. Before any of you ask me to do a chapter on how Kuroro disciplined Meta and how Bast trained Meta, I have to say now that I probably won't be doing it because I honestly have NO idea on how to discipline and teach the 'aptitude for learning' into a child. I'm not even going to make up a method on my own, that's too scary and risky.  
_


	26. Meta's Nen part 15: Home Sweet Home

_Part 15 of the story about Meta's Nen: in which Meta came back home after mastering the basic of his Nen._

* * *

**Part 15**

**_HOME SWEET HOME_**

* * *

"Lucian, when is Brother coming back?" A voice chirped.

"Meta? I don't know, dear. Ask your sister, she might know." The vampire said with a sigh.

Little feet pitter-pattered on the floor went towards Bia; who was sitting on the sofa while reading a thick book that was homework from Kuroro. The children were home-schooled mainly by Kuroro and Kurapika, but sometimes other people would pitch in to the efforts. Lucian and Leorio would sometimes drop by to teach the children things that they were good at, and so did Fino and Shalnark when they weren't too busy in the inn (yes, Shalnark was coerced into working somewhat full-time in Prancing Pony Inn after free-loading there for years and courting the heir of the establishment—although Kurapika was a bit sceptical about a Spider like Shalnark working in an inn, while Kuroro found it very _very _amusing. Shalnark became the brunt of the Ryodan's jokes for weeks after they found out about it). The town had school, but Kurapika had been reluctant to enrol the children in such normal school because obviously the children in her household were anything but normal—Meta and Bia would probably think the other children were idiots. Kuroro personally thought that the school wouldn't be able to keep up with their children, if anything.

"Sister?"

"**Yes, Sarai?**"

"When is Brother coming back?"

"**As soon as he has finished his training.**" Bia answered succinctly with her Nen-writing.

"When is that?"

"**I don't know. I haven't been in touch with him. Maybe you should ask Daddy.**"

"Where is Papa?" (Lucian snorted at this)

"**Upstairs with Mommy.**"

"What are they doing upstairs?"

Lucian snickered and Bia looked up from her book to glare at the vampire, warning him not to say anything indecent in front of the children. Lucian quickly gave the surrendering gesture, but he was still grinning smugly. Bia simply rolled her eyes and looked down at her little sister.

"**I don't know, Sarai. I don't always know everything. If you want to know, go upstairs and find out on your own.**"

"Are you sure that's a good idea, _Printesa_? What if—OUCH!"

The reason for Lucian's yelp of pain was because Bia had shot him with an electric Nen 'bullet'. She shot him a shut-up look as she shooed her little sister to go and bug their parents. Sarai, ignorant to Lucian's brief suffering, skipped her way towards the staircase and soon began climbing up the stairs. Lucian rubbed his abused person, but he then turned to the other little one.

"What about you, Noah? Don't you miss your brother?"

Noah looked up from the book (or more like a friggin' tome) he was reading—"I swear this kid is scary. He's like a diminutive Lucifer all over. Look at that LOOK he's giving me!"—and stared at Lucian as if he was a moron. He didn't respond to Lucian for a few minutes and Lucian was starting to worry about the boy's mind. Noah had the habit of staring into spaces and speaking in goddamn riddles that only Kuroro Lucifer and Anansi could comprehend most of the times.

"He's here." The boy suddenly said, his eyes lighting up with excitement that Lucian seldom saw in the quiet boy's eyes. Noah's eyes were always frightfully calm and composed, and _old_.

"Whut?"

Before Lucian could ask further, Noah stood up and ran to the door. Lucian was still shocked by the sudden animation in Noah's body language when Sarai suddenly stormed down from the staircase and bolted straight for the door as well; virtually bulldozing the pale man in the process—complete with a high-pitch screech that almost tore Lucian's eardrums to ribbons. Soon, Sarai was followed by Kurapika but the latter had more grace in her slam-the-door-open-and-dash-out routine.

"_Ce dracu 'se întâmplă_ (What the hell is going on)?"

"Meta is back." Came the answer from the direction of the staircase.

Lucian whipped around and saw Kuroro Lucifer walking down the stairs, hands in pockets and with a smug grin plastered on his face. The pristine, immaculate condition of his attire showed that the man hadn't been engaging in certain _activity_ that Lucian had alluded to earlier—"tsch, how boring". Lucian raised an eyebrow, but nonetheless he expanded his 'awareness'; which was equal to En. Indeed he noticed two presences coming towards the house rapidly.

However, it was too rapid for even a hyperactive, sugar-rush Meta.

Kurapika's cry of indignation soon comfirmed Lucian's suspicion.

* * *

"What the hell is going on?! Bast!" Kurapika shrieked at the cat daemon as she eyed the gigantic bird standing a few metres away from her like she was staring at a Hydra.

The bird was _gargantuan_. It was a bird of prey with the wingspan of at least 100 metres. Its feathers were white, with red accent on the feathers surrounding its eyes and golden accent on the tip of the feathers around its head and neck. Currently it had lowered its massive head so that Sarai and Noah could fuss over it. Sarai was busy admiring and stroking its feathers, while Noah seemed to be talking to it. Kurapika was tempted to drag the two children by the scruffs of their necks, but she refrained herself. The kids seemed to unnervingly know what they were doing.

Kuroro soon emerged from the house, followed by Lucian and Bia.

"Oh?" Kuroro said, openly admiring the great bird.

"_Dracu '_ (the hell)?" Lucian sputtered as he gawked at the bird.

Bia simply raised an eyebrow but commented nothing. Instead, she walked forward and joined the twins in petting the gigantic bird and talking to it in low voice.

_**There was a landslide that destroyed the path to this part of the mountain. Meta refused to circle around and wished to reach home as fast as we could.**_ Bast explained calmly as she licked her paw.

"And why is Meta like…like…_this_?!" Kurapika screeched yet again.

"I didn't expect him to come home in such fashion." Kuroro commented with glee in his voice.

_**Do your mother a favour and transform back, Meta, **_said Bast with a sigh; deciding that she couldn't take Kurapika's hysterics anymore and that it wasn't healthy for the woman.

_**Oh, come on…**_ The bird _whined_, prompting Bast to roll her feline eyes.

The bird soon shed its feathers and shrank in size. Soon enough, standing in place of the great bird was Meta with a very, _very _wide triumphant grin on his face. Sarai and Noah tackled him as soon as he was in huggable size, and the three of them rolled on the ground as Meta didn't expect the welcoming gesture _that_ soon. Bia shook her head before she finally gave the oh-what-the-heck look and soon joined the fray on the ground.

Kurapika looked like she was going to faint, so Kuroro herded her back to the house while telling Meta to share his story in the house. The children scrambled to their legs and sprinted into the house through the door that Kuroro purposefully held open for them (he felt like herding little diabolical sheep whenever he did this), almost knocking Lucian down as they rushed past him.

"So I take it the training is successful." Kuroro remarked as soon as he had Kurapika settled down with a mug of hot chocolate in front of her.

"Yeah!"

"So tell me what you can do with your Nen now."

"Right! So you see, Dad…"

Meta then began explaining his abilities as a Daemonmaster.

Meta could do three types of Daemon Summoning. First, he could summon the daemon bodily and gave it commands to follow; this method was perfect for running errands. Second, he could summon the daemon within the spirit world and assimilate its attributes to his physical bodies and therefore gaining the daemon's power, skils, and strength; this method was best for direct head-on conflict or other practicalities. For example, he had assimilated Roc, a bird daemon, into his Nen so that he could take on the daemon's form and flew, therefore cutting down on travel time. Third, he could do as what he had done to Epiales; he could just solve things in the spirit world and therefore solving things subtly and covertly in the material world.

Needless to say, Kuroro Lucifer was _extremely _pleased when he was told all these.

"He is NOT joining the Ryodan." Kurapika hissed at him upon seeing that look on Kuroro's face.

"I wasn't saying anything to that effect." Kuroro said in a pretended indignation.

"I know you!" She snapped, and then turned to Bast before Kuroro could retaliate. "And are you saying that the daemon possesses him when he assimilates the daemon into his Nen?!" Kurapika screeched like a witch personified.

Knowing where this argument was going, Kuroro made a silent gesture at the children to scram. Meta and Bia understood in an instant, and they scooped up Noah and Sarai respectively before they retreated from the room and going out to the forest behind the house. No doubt Meta was going to visit certain unicorns that had been waiting at the outskirt of the forest. That left the adults to discuss Meta's Nen with more…liberty.

_**More like he is absorbing the daemon into his Nen, **_Bast said after the children had left, and quickly added when she saw Kurapika about to go nuclear again, _**temporarily.**_

"But there's always the risk of the daemons turning against him! Didn't you tell me that that friend of Lucian's sire was eaten by his own daemons?!" Kurapika turned to Kuroro with a glare that could have melted a few inches thick of lead.

"Well…" Lucian muttered, unsure of what to say.

_**They are not going to turn against him,**_ Bast said confidently.

"And why is that?" Kurapika asked in a snarl.

_**Because the boy is a descendant of the Solomonarii. The mark on his palm is the proof. Many Solomonarii are fearsome Daemonmasters, and as the result of many centuries of Solomonarii conquering countless daemons, many daemons have an instinctive obedience towards the Solomonarii**_, Bast turned her golden eyes toward Lucian, _**as the young master there would vouch for it.**_

"Yeah, indeed. They have plenty of daemons at their becks and calls. Remember Alkonost, that half-bird-half-lady who brought you all the way from Wallachia to Ryuusei-gai? She is a daemon and I had one of my father's Solomonarii witches to send her to us." Lucian said.

"Why didn't you—" Kurapika began in an onset of a roar.

"I didn't know that daemons would be the solution to Meta's Nen problem!" Lucian exclaimed in panic, his demeanour betraying his instinct to duck behind Kuroro for protection from Kurapika's wrath.

"Well, we should be able to rest easy now that Meta can control his Nen properly." Kuroro said at length after observing Lucian being verbally harassed by Kurapika.

"Why does he have to be born with the ability to dabble with the dangerous…" Kurapika murmured dejectedly.

"It's in the blood, Kurapika. Give it up. The only ones anywhere near normal here are you and Bia." Kuroro chuckled as he stole Kurapika's hot chocolate and sipped it.

"I don't think they are normal either…" Lucian muttered as he flopped down on the couch.

_**Your son deserves more credits than you are giving him, **_Bast suddenly said as she jumped to sit on the table in front of Kurapika, as if confronting her. _**He is more aware than you think he is. I have been by his side constantly for the past two years, and he often surprised me with how…insightful…he can be towards his circumstances. **_

Bast glanced at Kuroro. She didn't doubt that Meta's insightfulness must have come primarily from his father. To Bast, Kuroro Lucifer was a fearsome Creature. She could smell remnants of a Deity in him, no doubt from the Lady Ishtar's blood that she had given to him. She only noticed that the man was a descendant of Solomonarii when she had _really _seen the mark on his forehead. She had been quite surprised, but it soon made so much sense to the explanation on why the man seemed different than the rest of the family.

_**Although he can have quite the temper sometimes.**_

This time Bast glanced at Kurapika, and the latter still had the grace to look guilty at the unspoken accusation. No doubt he inherited it from his mother.

_**If this would put you more at ease, know that I will stay by his side henceforth until he has come of age. His training might have been completed, but two years are not enough to polish his skills, techniques, and knowledge to perfection. **_

"Well… I suppose so. " Kurapika looked up and flashed the daemon a look of resigned acceptance. "At least now he won't go headlong into danger because of ignorance."

"Indeed." Kuroro said with a chuckle as he drank more of the warm beverage in his hand. However, inwardly Kuroro thought that Meta would still go headlong into danger, ignorance or not. That was just how Meta was; danger attracted him. Kuroro couldn't really blame the boy for it, though. He could understand the sentiment.

The soft sound of Kuroro sipping the drink brought Kurapika's attention to it.

"Kuroro! Give me back my hot chocolate!"

"You weren't drinking it and it's getting cold. And _I _made it."

Lucian decided to evacuate before it got rough, taking Bast with him in his arms. Bast didn't protest and merely observed the bickering couple before she was spirited away from the house. Once out, Bast jumped from Lucian's arms and landed on the ground gracefully. She then followed Lucian as he started walking towards the forest to catch up with the kids.

_**They are always like that?**_ Bast asked curiously.

"Yeah. Been like that since over a decade ago. Some things just never change." Lucian shrugged.

They continued walking in amiable silence until they could see the children playing with the unicorns. Meta was showing off the friendly Lesser Daemons who didn't mind being summoned for nothing and liked children in general. Sarai looked absolutely ecstatic with all those awesome daemons, while Bia kept throwing questions at Meta about his abilities and his daemons. Noah simply stood there and talked with the daemons as if they were everyday happenings. Honestly, Lucian thought that Noah was a tad creepy for a child.

Lucian sometimes thought that perhaps Noah hadn't been born with human brain, and in its place was the brain of a…a…_something _waaaaay too creepy to be a human. Maybe he somehow inherited Ishtar's brain, or maybe born with her reincarnated brain? Well, the boy was physically somewhat like Ishtar and Lucifer, so that was plausible. What about…A solomonar brain?

….

Oh GOD. That was _**absolutely**_ terrifying.

Sarai saw them approaching, and ran off towards Lucian in delight with the fairy-like daemons trailing in her wake. Lucian couldn't help but to grin at the little princess of the family (although in his mind, Bia was always his_ Printesa_). Speaking of which…

"Oh, and Bast?"

_**Yes?**_

"Welcome to the family."

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__The end of the tale of Meta's Nen! Now we know how Meta's Nen is. And the things Lucian does for this little odd family *snicker* He's a great uncle, don't you think? I'd want an uncle like him. He's awesomely interesting (to bully). And we have another member joining the weird family at the end._

"_The children scrambled to their legs and sprinted into the house through the door that Kuroro purposefully held open for them (he felt like herding little diabolical sheep whenever he did this)." Hahaha, I can totally imagine Kuroro herding small little diabolical sheep._

_And we have a glance of the twins! This is just the preliminary stage of my vision of their personalities. If you have any suggestions about the twins, feel free to tell me in your reviews. Maybe I'll write about them IF I have time._

_Well, I shall be absent from writing anymore fanfiction now that the new semester has started and my Program Leader has devised a semester-length of tortures for us poor students. _


	27. Surnames

_In which the topic about surnames is raised._

* * *

**_SURNAMES_**

* * *

"Kurapika, you are a Kuruta, right?"

The said Kuruta looked up to give one Lucian Virgilliu a raised eyebrow while her hands continued doing the dishes from after dinner. The children had gone off to Fino's place as Shalnark had promised to teach them new stuffs—Kurapika didn't even bother asking what the new stuffs were; she was quite confident with Shalnark's common sense of not teaching _her_ children anything indecent or idiotic, unlike certain brainless brutes in the Ryodan...

"What's with that question now?" She asked suspiciously, as she always was when he started firing random question. Well, he did admit that this question was rather random, but he was quite justified to be asking that! If he did say so himself…

"Are you?" He pressed on.

"Obviously." Kurapika said with a 'duh' tone.

"Then…Kuruta isn't really your surname, is it?" He asked slowly.

"…No." Lucian didn't miss the pause before she answered his question, and there was enough hints in her expression that she didn't really want to venture down the path of explaining what had happened to her surname.

Still, he bulldozed forward.

Which, on hindsight, was extremely gutsy and at the same time foolish of him. One would have thought that by then he would have learned that pushing his luck against one Kurapika Kuruta was a foolhardy act, if not disastrous. However, his curiosity was getting the better of him—as it always was—despite himself seeing an unsavoury (this was putting it mildly) ending from miles away.

"So what's your surname?" At least he had enough grace not to ask what had indeed happened to her surname.

"It's gone." She answered crisply, curtly, and briskly while giving him the shut-up-or-else glare.

And _still_ he ploughed on.

"Yeah, okay. So what WAS your surname?"

"And why are you suddenly so interested in my no-longer-existing surname all the sudden?" Kurapika practically snarled at him as she altogether ceased her dish-washing activity.

"Well… First it's Metatron Lucifer Kuruta. And then Noah Lucifer Kuruta and Sarai Lucifer Kuruta. And I would assume you will write Bianca Lucifer Kuruta—Heen told me that Bia's full first name is Bianca, so there—when you need to write her full name in some God-knows-what papers."

Her eyebrows rose further.

"So?"

"So I thought you gave Meta yours and Lucifer's surname in a package because, well…Considering the circumstances back then, I thought that was to remind you of him…You know?"

"And? What's your point?" Kurapika was growing exasperated. Trust Lucian to be so convoluted and long-winded when all he wanted to know was just one simple thing. He was no better than his so-called best friend/brother; who happened to be her husband-in-practicality (nope, they still weren't married officially, much to Fino's immense dismay).

"SO back to square one, I was just wondering what your surname was. Since I can now assume that Kuruta is in fact a clan name and not a family surname."

"Her surname was gone the moment her whole clan was massacred. It's just as simple as that."

The arrival of the new voice happened to have intercepted Kurapika before the imminent scathing remark could escape from her mouth, thus sparing Lucian from another you-stabbed-my-heart experience. Kuroro walked in with a smirk on his face, and the twinkling in his eyes could only betray the fact that he had been listening to their conversation and found it immensely amusing.

"And it looks like she'd appreciate it if you will leave it at that." Kuroro Lucifer continued smoothly. Lucian didn't miss the grateful you-take-care-of-this-shit look that Kurapika threw at Kuroro's approaching figure.

"But…" The aristocratic vampire pursed his lower lip.

"What is it that you really want to know?" Kuroro asked with that spill-your-gut-before-I-make-you look on his decidedly sadistic smile that reached his eyes. Kurapika, meanwhile, had gone back to doing the dishes.

"Well…"

"What prompted you to this questioning?" The Spider Head parked himself next to his Kuruta as he swiped a freshly cleaned glass from Kurapika's hands ("OI!") to pour himself a drink.

"Nothing." Lucian began sulking. Why was it that people always suspected him of having ulterior motives?

"Really." Kuroro queried flatly and obviously disbelievingly.

"Okay fine!" The pale, long-haired lanky man growled. "So there's this couple in Wallachia who got married and they were talking about who would take whose surname. So naturally, I got curious about you guys and your family's surnames."

"We are technically not married." Kuroro said, as if that would solve the problem that was Lucian's curiosity.

"You should really get married…" The vampire muttered under his breath.

"Going conservative now, Lucian?" Kuroro's grin grew wider while Kurapika raised her eyebrows in her are-you-kidding-me expression.

"That status has its perks, y'know."

"Hmm…" Kuroro covered his mouth with his hand. "Indeed."

At that, Kurapika stared at Kuroro as if he had just confessed his undying love for Lucian.

"Although it's a bit too late for now. Everyone has already assumed that we are married anyway." Kuroro threw a teasing glance at the Kuruta who had taken to avoiding everyone's eyes by concentrating on wiping the dishes dry when she didn't even need to do that. Kuroro thought he saw a flash of pink on her face before she abruptly turned away.

"So you aren't going to change them?" Lucian asked with all the innocence he could muster.

"Change what?"

"You names. Let's hear it: Kurapika Lucifer Kuruta and Kuroro Lucifer Kuruta."

...

...

...

Silence reigned.

"Uh…I think…I'll join the children." Lucian said sheepishly after he saw the looks on the two. He then quickly made his exit to escape the awkwardness.

The silence continued for a short while…

"Well—" Kuroro started.

"Don't. Even. Try." Kurapika growled while brandishing her…dishcloth?

"I wasn't trying to suggest we take up Lucian's advice. That is just horrendous." Kuroro scoffed playfully.

"So? What other smartass-ness is going to come out of your mouth?"

"I was just about to ask you if you're really going to christen Bia as Bianca Lucifer Kuruta."

Kurapika felt like smacking her forehead, but refrained from doing so due to the dripping wet dishcloth in her hand.

"You decide. It's your surname."

"And it's your clan name." Kuroro pointed out brightly.

"As I recall, you were the one who had difficulties accepting Bia." Kurapika challenged him.

"And as I recall, that was before we are _married_." Kuroro grinned wickedly at Kurapika when he saw the flush on her face.

"We are _not_ married." She hissed—presumably to cover her embarrassment, as he chose to interpret it.

"No?" Kuroro held up his hand and wiggled the finger with the aquamarine-on-silver ring that functioned as Restrainer, Ishtar's Memento, and (unofficial) _wedding ring_.

"Ggh—!"

"So what's the verdict?"

Kuroro whirled around and simultaneously glanced down in surprise while Kurapika shrieked "GAH! META! HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN THERE?!"

"Uh…From '_I wasn't trying to suggest we take up Lucian's advice. That is just horrendous_,' part." Meta answered while mimicking his father's words with such perfection that scared Kurapika a tad bit and evidently pleased Kuroro. "What kind of stupidity did he suggest anyway?"

"It is stupid; therefore you don't want to know." Kuroro replied smoothly.

"Yeah?" The boy threw his father a sceptical glance.

"Mmhm." Kuroro nodded with a crooked smile.

"So? What's the verdict?" The boy repeated his earlier question while letting his father's evasiveness slide. He could always press the answer out of Lucian himself later at his own leisure.

"What verdict?"

"About Bia? Is she going to be Bianca Lucifer Kuruta?" Meta asked eagerly. "I like the sound of it."

"Well…" Kuroro glanced at Kurapika. "If your mother is thinking what I'm thinking, then yes she is."

"Awesome!" Meta grinned brightly, and then turned around towards the door of the house.

"Meta, why did you come back here?" Kurapika asked in bewilderment when she saw that the boy was going back to Fino's place right after eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Oh, Lucian just sent me here to check on you. He was muttering something about 'fixing the awkwardness'. I don't know." The boy shrugged.

Kuroro could only shrug when Kurapika gave him the what-the-hell look. Only Lucian did the weirdest things ever.

"Oh." Meta paused at the door and, as if as an afterthought, added: "And he told me not to check your _shared_ bedroom, in case I can't find you in the dining room or the kitchen."

Meta flew from the scene—knowing full well the insinuation in such sentence and the reaction it would elicit from his mother—therefore barely missing the muffled curses that his mother was spewing forth (no doubt muffled by his father's hand) and the following masculine all-out laughter that distinctly rang from his father. Meta marvelled at that pleasing sound. Only Lucian and his mother could make his father laugh unrestrainedly like that.

He would like to be the cause of his father's full-out laughter one day. That'll be one of his proudest days.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__And here we have more interactions between Kurapika and Kuroro! Been a while since we see them, aye? It's such a joy to write about them and their funny interactions. And yeah, if you notice, Kuroro only laughed out loud because of Lucian and/or Kurapika so far in my fanfiction._


	28. Babysitter

_In which an occasion of Lucian being a babysitter is explored._

* * *

**_BABYSITTER_**

* * *

"Lucian Lucian Lucian!"

"Oomph!"

"LucianLucianLucianLucianIfou ndthisamazingthinginthefores tIgottashowMamaandPapabutIca n'tfindthemwherearethey?"

The said vampire; who was rubbing his abused shin that had been ploughed at by one dangerously sugar-high Sarai Lucifer Kuruta, stared at the said girl and tried to process the sentence that she had just fired off at epically awesome speed.

He failed.

"…What?"

"Where's Mama and Papa?"

"They are working, sweetheart. They are busy." Lucian said gently; he had long given up on resisting his seemingly permanent role in the family—babysitter. "You want to show them something?"

Sarai nodded.

"What about you show it to me?"

The four-year-old girl bit her lower lip; a habit that she had picked up from her mother that indicated that she was being unsure. Sarai stared at him while tilting her head sideways cutely, her eyebrows furrowing as if she was concentrating on something in her mind. For a fleeting second, a scary thought went through Lucian's mind: was she talking with his twin brother through telepathy? She looked like she was doing exactly that.

…He would be damned if the twins could do telepathy. That'd be just too creepy.

"Okay!" The girl said perkily after a minute of silence. She then grabbed the fabric of Lucian's trouser and led him through the door of the house and out into the forest.

Lucian grimaced; the twins were already playing inside the forest by themselves? Was this actually allowed? Lucifer didn't say anything about off-limits area around the house, though. With that in mind, Lucian zipped his mouth and let the little girl be in charge.

"Papa and Mama would love it." The girl chirped excitedly as she traversed the forest floor easily—which kinda freaked Lucian out—with a bounce in her feet.

Lucian snorted at the glorified fatherhood title that Sarai had glued on Kuroro Lucifer. Kurapika was perfectly fine with being called "Mama", but Kuroro wasn't faring as good.

The young vampire once overheard Kuroro telling Kurapika how it gave him headache that Sarai simply _refused_ to call him anything else but that sweet, soft-spoken, dripping-with-love title of "Papa". Of course Kurapika had laughed her head off at Kuroro's discomfort, but both Lucian and Kurapika knew that the discomfort wasn't because Kuroro didn't reciprocate Sarai's endearment towards him (in fact, both suspected that the man fully-intended to spoil the girl rotten…in his own quirky, twisted way). Kuroro Lucifer was simply unaccustomed to full-blown, pure, un-obscured expressions of love.

The Ryodan loved him in their respectful way, giving him the undivided attention and loyalty. Lucian loved him like the precious, precious brother that he never had; thus loving him in his playful way but never outright telling him "I love you" except when he was trying to get under his skin. Kurapika… well, the woman obviously was the epitome of tough love, though she was evidently gentler and more patient with the children—no such luck with Kuroro Lucifer. Still, perhaps her expression of love was the sort that perfectly suited Kuroro Lucifer and his oddness.

Ishtar and Anansi loved him like he was their true blood-and-flesh, and it had suffocated him in the past. Now that he had his own family, Kuroro learned to accept Anansi's love more willingly—though Lucian knew that the man was rather regretful of the fact that he hadn't had the chance to accept Isthar's love with more liberty before her passing.

Don't even get him started with the children. They loved him to bits and pieces. If 'expressions of love' was some kind of attack, Kuroro Lucifer would have died ten times over in a single week. They _peppered _him with it. They had absolutely no sense of personal space when it came to their family members. The children all had no qualms whatsoever in climbing all over their family members.

Meta and Sarai would practically launch themselves shamelessly at Kuroro bodily like they were some projectile weapons, and Kuroro didn't have the luxury of dodging them as doing so would probably end up with those two crashing headfirst into some furniture. He had had enough of furniture breaking in the house and Kurapika was kind of fed up with replacing broken furniture.

Bia was slightly more subdued and mature in the way she 'manhandled' Kuroro, but she was still very much…cuddly…about it—something that Lucifer had long ago resigned himself to. Kuroro Lucifer wasn't a cuddly type—unless it was to irritate and embarrass certain Kuruta—but ALL of his children were. Well, tough. He couldn't escape his children because he actually _wanted _to be with them (Hatsubaba was having a hard time picturing Kuroro wanting to frolic around with his kids. She almost hyperventilated at the mental image of Kuroro frolicking in a field of flowers with the kids; which did NOT happen in reality). So he did the only thing he could—he adapted.

Sometimes it gave Lucian goosebumps (and cuteness overload) when he saw—well, rest assured for his sanity, this was a _rare _occurrence—Kuroro squatting down to his children's height and opened up his arms wide so that his children could all body-slammed him into a hug; or sometimes group-hug. Meta and Sarai loved group-hug like that. Bia was more restrained and would prefer to have him all for herself. As for Noah…

God, that kid was downright scary.

Lucian hardly ever saw Kuroro sharing a moment of affection with the boy. Well, granted that he wasn't around the family _that_ often as he had his own duties to attend to and probably Noah was the private type, but still! He had lost track aeons ago on how many times he had seen Kuroro getting head-butted by accident when Meta or Sarai whimsically decided to become human projectile aimed to him _again_, or how many times he had seen Bia parking herself on Kuroro's lap and curling against his chest as she slept when he was doing his reading in the living room. However, he could count the number of times when he had seen Kuroro carrying or hugging Noah with his two hands since the boy's birth.

It was….sad.

And he began to wonder…

Was the fact that Noah bore so much resemblance to the late Lady of Ryuusei-gai a factor that contributed to the lack of public display of affection between Lucifer and his youngest son?

"Noah!" Sarai's chirp pulled Lucian from his musing.

The youngest girl of the family detached herself from Lucian and dashed toward her waiting twin brother. Said boy was standing behind some particularly dense bushes, his attention elsewhere but was quickly directed to his twin sister at her high-pitched bellow. He had a passive expression that was a stark contrast to his sister's.

"Sarai." He said quietly, and then his abyssal eyes turned to Lucian. "Lucian."

Lucian shivered at that gaze. He always saw that very same gaze from Lucifer, and from the late Ishtar as well, but they were adults. Seeing that kind of gaze from a kid like Noah was very unnerving. Noah had the impression of an old soul trapped in a child's body. He'd asked Lucifer about it, but all he said was:

"He is Noah."

And when he asked Kurapika, all she said was:

"Does it matter?"

Apparently Kurapika had seen too many and too much weirdness that her child's creepiness failed to faze her.

Noah stared at Lucian for a while, before turning to Sarai and gave her a look.

"Mama and Papa are at work." Sarai explained with a shrug, perfectly understanding the look that her twin was giving her.

Lucian breathed a sigh of relief; this kind of confirmed that the twins indeed couldn't do telepathy.

"So I figured we can just show him to Lucian." The girl said brightly.

"Well, it's just as well." Noah said in his quiet, enigmatic voice—how a kid like him could have that kind of mysterious voice, Lucian had no idea…And he had the feeling that he did NOT want to know how. "Apparently, Attor knows Father."

"Really?!" Sarai's emerald eyes widened exponentially.

Lucian was stunned. Did he just hear that? Noah said "Father"?

Come to think of it, this was the first time he ever heard Noah calling his father's parenthood title. Noah usually would just walk to Kuroro and just talked. He never called out to his father. He just approached the man, tugged at the cuff of his sleeve or at his pants or his fingers, and then did whatever business he had with his father. Well, granted that he wasn't around the family all the time and he didn't _live_ with them, so he might have missed the times when Noah had indeed called Kuroro by his parenthood title.

However, what made Lucian even more marvelled was the fact that Noah managed to say the word "Father" in such a way that he could hear the love and adoration in it. One would think that calling one's father with "Father" would denote a feeling of detachment and formality, hardly with any affection. How Noah could pull it off, he really had no idea.

What Lucian didn't know was that Noah's first word had been "Papa".

Oh.

Wait.

Hold on.

Go back for a while.

"Attor?"

Both twins turned to Lucian.

"Who's Attor?" Did they encounter some weirdo in the forest? Oh God. He hoped it wasn't some pervert or paedophile. Like Hisoka. Oh God. _That_ was messed up.

"Him!" Sarai bounced on her feet and skipped through the bushes to get to the other side.

Lucian followed him, and was soon confronted by the most ridiculous sight he could have expected from the twins. Noah still had that passive expression, though his lips were slightly upturned as if he was amused by Lucian's own expression. Sarai, meanwhile, was quivering in excitement. She was so much like Meta.

Lucian stared. And stared. And stared.

"Is that…"

And continued staring…

"Mmhm!" Sarai bobbed her head excitedly, her grin threatening to split her face.

Lucian brought his hands to his face.

"It can't be…"

Sarai jumped to the back of the thing that the twins had called 'Attor'. It was an overgrown lizard spanning about five metres in length from the tip of its muzzle down to the tip of its tail. Its feathered wings were folded neatly on its back, its tail flicking from side to side. Several of its scales glinted under the scarce sunlight that managed to penetrate the thick canopy of the forest. Sarai was dangling from its scaly neck happily, completely unaware of the potential danger that she was practically clinging to.

"A dragon!" She squealed while hugging said creature's neck.

"DRAGOOOON!" Lucian clawed his face while scrapping his nails down his face and screaming blue murder. "SARAI GET AWAY FROM IT!"

"Attor is a 'he'!" The girl shot back, but still latching herself onto the dragon's scaly neck.

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT! GET AWAY FROM THE DRAGON!"

"It's a bonsai dragon." Noah said smartly.

"I DON'T CARE! IT'S _STILL _A DRAGON!"

ROAAAAAAAAAAARRR!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

SMACK!

"GEH!"

"Ah. He hits Lucian." Sarai deadpanned. Indeed the dragon had smacked Lucian on the head with its tail and consequently sending the latter to the dirt.

"He's too noisy." Noah shrugged as he patted the dragon on his neck.

"_La naiba balaur! De ce m-ai lovit_?! (damn dragon! Why did you hit me)"

SMACK!

"Give it up, Lucian. Attor is Father's friend. He isn't going to eat us." Noah said calmly, unfazed by the abuse that the vampire was receiving.

"A—Attor? You named it?!"

_**That is my name, you dumb vampire. **_

"IT TALKS!"

_**There is no rule saying dragons can't talk!**_ The dragon snapped its jaw just inches from Lucian's face.

"Okay, okay! Stop trying to eat my face!" The vampire scrambled away from the irate dragon.

The dragon pulled his face away from Lucian and snorted derisively. Sarai then busied herself nuzzling against the dragon's face as she cooed at it. Lucian didn't understand what was so cute about the dragon that Sarai just had to cuddle with it.

…Then again, she was Lucifer's kid.

"Hold on." Lucian turned to Noah. "You said it—he—is a friend of your father?"

"Yes. Father sent him to us."

"What?!" Lucian felt light-headed. What was wrong with that man?! What was he thinking, sending a blasted dragon to his kids!

"Really?!" Sarai's eyes couldn't possibly get even larger than that.

"He was about to tell us when you bolted away to the house." Noah said disapprovingly at his sister. "You do remember that we are not supposed to be walking around alone in the forest."

"Sorry…" Sarai ducked her head and guiltily twirled the tip of her booted foot on the dirt.

_**Oh I am sure that the two of you will be perfectly fine in this forest,**_ the dragon snorted.

Lucian sent the dragon a sceptical stare.

"And how do you know that?"

_**It is easy to detect the life signature of the dwellers of this forest. None of them meant any harms to these children. It would seem that they are all familiar with the family.**_

Lucian couldn't argue with that logic. As Attor said, by sensing their life signature—which was equivalent to their Nen quality—one could determine the animal's intentions. The forest was practically their backyard, the animals practically their pets.. He still remembered the time when some of those pathetic kids from the town sneaked into the forest without adult supervision and ended up getting lost. The parents were panicking and they begged Kuroro to look for them in the forest (Kurapika was away from some Hunter mission on that occasion). Kuroro couldn't be bothered to go into the forest himself. Heck, he was even about to refuse the pleas if not for Fino's sake; who was trying to take matters into her own hands and was about to storm into the forest herself. Kuroro had ended up sending Meta and Bia _only _as the rescue team. The townspeople had been aghast when they saw it, and even more disbelieving when Kuroro told them that those two knew the forest better than he did, considering that they spent the majority of their free time frolicking and possibly wrestling with the resident animals in there.

As it was, Meta and Bia themselves couldn't be bothered to comb through the forest at night looking for those lost idiots. The animals in the forest did the job for them, with some help from the resident unicorns. Una pitied the terrified children, while Bara was irate at the little demonic fiends. He had claimed that they were destroying the forest with their grubby little hands and the peace within with their horrendous wails. With minimal coaxing from Meta and Bia, Bara and Una talked the animals into rounding up the missing children and herding them (read: scaring them shitless so they ran for their lives) towards the outskirt of the forest where Meta and Bia would be waiting for them.

Since then, the family had been labelled as the Warden of the Forest.

"What proof do you have that Lucifer indeed send you here?" Lucian asked the dragon warily.

The dragon snorted.

_**Now I know why Kuroro Lucifer insists that I bring this with me,**_ the dragon said while procuring something from within the fold of his feathered wing.

….Feathered wing?

"He's a bonsai dragon. Most of them have feathered wings." Noah said helpfully.

Lucian stared at Noah with wide eyes.

"I read it from one of the books Father gave to me for reading." The boy said again, and added after a pause, "It's the Encyclopaedia of All Living Things."

Lucian's grey eyes grew even wider.

"No. I didn't read your mind."

"Then why are you answering the questions in my head?!"

"OOOOOOH!" Sarai's high-pitched squeal interrupted before Noah could give another smart-ass comeback. "That's Daddy's ring!"

Lucian's head turned around to face Sarai in a snap. His eyes landed on the gleaming aquamarine-on-silver ring that the dragon held gently with his mean-looking teeth. The aquamarine was glowing red, though. Very bright red.

_**I assume Kuroro Lucifer intends for this to convince you to let the children go?**_

"Don't say it like I'm some kind of kidnapper!" Lucian protested. "And what do you mean, 'let the children go'?"

_**I am here to fetch the children. My kinfolks have expressed their interest in Kuroro Lucifer and insisted that he prolongs his stay with them. He agrees on the condition that we bring his wife and children to the Nest,**_ Attor said calmly.

"He really said that?" Lucian asked sceptically.

_**Said what?**_

"Wife and children?"

_**Indeed. What of it?**_

"Uh…Nothing."

"Lucian thinks the idea of Father calling Mother 'wife' is far-fetched." Noah deadpanned.

"NOAH! STOP READING MY MIND!"

"I did not." Noah retorted with bored tone.

"Noah can't read minds." Sarai said with a nod.

"GAH!" Lucian clawed at his face again. All of Lucifer's kids always ganged up on him.

_**He said there are four children. Where are the other two?**_ Attor asked the children.

"Brother and Sister are with Fino and Shalnark!" Sarai supplied helpfully. "Should I go get them?"

_**If you would, little girl. **_Attor nudged Sarai's shoulder gently, and the girl squealed.

"No need! We are already here!" Came a voice from up the canopy of the trees.

Soon enough, three figures leapt from the branches and landed expertly on the ground near the dragon. Lucian flinched when he saw how close they chose to land to the bonsai dragon. Why did all of Lucifer's children have to be such dare-devils with very little sense of self-preservation?

And how the hell did they manage to know that they were supposed to be here.

"**I caught strange signals from here with my Net, so we came to investigate.**" Bia 'said', seeing the confused look on his face. Net was Bia's version of En, using her electromagnetic Nen not only to detect presence of intruders but also to gather some basic information about them. It was constantly deployed, acting like invisible radar that spanned for a mile in radius at least. How the now-15-year-old girl could have the stamina to deploy the damn thing for 24/7 was beyond Lucian, but he had his suspicions in the form of one bat-shit insane Kuroro Lucifer and his bat-shit insane training regime.

"Brother! Sister!" Sarai squealed happily and launched herself off the ground to tackle-hug her biggest brother.

Used to Sarai's tendency to turn herself into human projectile, the 10-year-old Meta expertly caught and swung the girl so that she ended up sitting on his shoulders. He then ruffled Noah's black hair roughly. Bia said nothing, merely patting both Noah's and Sarai's head fondly before going over to the bonsai dragon.

"So what's a bonsai dragon doing here?" Meta asked, his eyes gleaming with excitement at said dragon.

_**Attor,**_ Bast—Meta's constant companion—greeted the dragon as she silently padded towards the dragon.

_**Bast! So it's true what I heard about you mentoring a human child in the arts of Daemonmaster?**_ Attor bent down his neck to lick the black cat in greeting.

_**Indeed. Here is the Young Master. **_Bast flicked her tail to Meta's direction.

_**Hmm… **_Attor began observing all the children. He then had a wicked grin along his jaw. _**Kuroro Lucifer's children are marvellous. I see why my elders are interested in his family. **_

Lucian eyed the dragon critically, looking directly into its poisonous green eyes to search for any signs of deception. Now that he looked closely, he could perceive that this dragon was the poisonous kind. There was this very faint acrid smell of some poisonous chemical compounds wafting from the dragon's body. He figured that if one was to pluck one of those feathers on his wings and used it to prick someone, it would be enough to at least paralyze the victim.

"You are really going to take the children to the Nest?" He asked the dragon, a rather unhappy tone leaking into his voice.

_**Such is my order. **_The dragon did his equivalent of a shrug.

"We're going!" Sarai announced energetically.

"Don't go around making your own decision, girl." Lucian said with a frown.

"But…" Sarai pursed her lips unhappily.

"Yeah. Remember the other day when you go off on your own although Mom told you not to?"

"**I wasn't expecting Daddy to punish her like that…**" Bia added her two cents.

Lucian's eyes bulged.

"He _what_?" He didn't believe his ears.

"Punished Sarai. This runt wandered off down the mountain alone. Naturally Mom freaked out and almost went ballistic—" Meta began explaining.

"**She did go ballistic.**" Bia corrected him.

"—and was about to tear down the jungle surrounding the mountain but Dad stopped her. He told her to let Sarai wander on her own."

"Oh? I'd be expecting him to go and be her knight in shining armour or something." Lucian was incredulous.

"Mom accused him of spoiling her rotten." Meta continued.

"Can't really blame her." Lucian muttered.

"**But Daddy actually purposefully let Sarai get lost in the jungle.**" Bia flicked the girl in question on her forehead, earning an indignant whimper from the little girl. Sarai had the grace to look guilty and ashamed, though.

Lucian laughed his head off. That was just _so_ Lucifer.

"But he still rescued her in the end, right?" He asked while wheezing from all his laughing.

"Nope."

"WHAT?!"

"He shadowed her for…what, three days?"

"**Four.**" Bia supplied.

"Well yeah. Four then. All the while, he was dropping hints here and there for her so that she could find her way back to town."

"_E NEBUN?! _(is he insane)"

"…Actually, if it was me or Bia, he wouldn't have bothered dropping hints at all." Meta muttered dryly.

_**Personal experience?**_ Attor suddenly asked with amusement.

"Yeah. Marooned me on some uninhibited island overrun with fever with only one dagger. Punishment."

"Gaaah…" Lucian now seriously doubted his friend's sanity. "And Kurapika didn't do anything about it?"

"**Oh, Mommy tried stopping him. Somehow Daddy managed to convince her to let Meta go through with the 'training'.**" Bia shrugged.

_**SO,**_ Attor said suddenly, gathering everyone's attention, _**shall we go now? My elders are waiting for my return with the children.**_

"Right!" Meta snapped his fingers. "Shall we pack some bags?"

_**Ah, right. Pack lightly, children. I can't carry too much burden on my back. **_Attor said, grimacing slightly at the idea of hauling four children with their backpacks. He could carry all of them, but that didn't mean that he liked the burden.

"It's okay. I have my own mode of transportation. I'll take one of these squirts with me." Meta grinned wickedly at the dragon as he began to run through the mental catalogue of his daemon friends to find which of them would be best suited for this journey.

_**Very good.**_ The dragon said with relief and was a tad grateful at the kid's thoughtfulness of being self-sufficient. He was liking Kuroro Lucifer's children more and more.

"I'm coming too."

Attor looked up and glared at Lucian. The vampire recoiled slightly at the intense golden glare, but stood his ground.

"Hey, I'm their appointed babysitter and Godfather."

"You _are_?" Meta looked at him in bafflement. Lucian decided to ignore it.

"They are my responsibility when those two are off working their asses off. So until they see either Kurapika or Lucifer, they ain't going outta my sight."

_**Admirable sense of responsibility. Very well. You may come, **_Attor stretched his neck so that his muzzle was a few inches from Lucian's face, _**but get your own transportation. As I understand, you are a vampire. If you are any decent full-fledged vampire, you are supposed to own a familiar or two. **_

"Very perceptive of you." Lucian muttered disgruntledly.

_**Then it is decided. Go along, children. **_

Without any more coaxing, the children ran to the direction of their house. Only Lucian, Attor, and Bast stayed behind. Bast and Attor decided to catch up with each other, while Lucian half-listened to their conversation. He had other things occupying his minds at the moment. After a while…

"Attor."

_**Yes?**_

"Can I have some samples of your poison?"

SMACK!

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__A brief insight of Kuroro Lucifer on the topic of expressing love. I still think that Kuroro was the awkward type when it comes to mushy things like love. And I believe he's only intentionally cuddly to Kurapika (understandably to fluster her), and is forced to be cuddly for the children's sake. And no, I'm not going to write about their meeting with the bonsai dragon flocks._

_I believe Noah is a very weird child. He has the impression of being slightly autistic, being out of place among his peers. Not that it affects the dynamic of the equally weird family. _

_And Lucian just doesn't learn, does he?_


	29. Clockwork

_In which Lucian Virgilliu contemplated about human's vulnerability toward Time._

* * *

**_CLOCKWORK_**

* * *

Minutes.

Hours.

Days.

Weeks.

Months.

Years.

Decades.

Centuries.

Those units of time meant little to him. They were of little consequence, as Time had long time ago forgotten him and his kin. Time couldn't touch him. He was timeless, ageless. Once upon a time, he was a slave of Time. He wasn't born like this. He was born mortal, vulnerable to Time. He was once human. He couldn't remember when he had changed into this ageless creature, and his Sire wasn't about to tell him anytime soon—or at all.

He had once tried to distance himself from the mortal. He couldn't be with them. They couldn't be with him, couldn't keep up with him, couldn't stay with him forever. Their existence was almost fleeting. Transient. He hated that. He was tired of the heartache of seeing his long-time friend buried into the cold earth due to old age. And another one. And another. And another. He stopped trying to mingle with the humans, since he knew by experience that it just wasn't worth it. They were just too…short-lived. They were governed by Time since the moment they were conceived in this cruel, cruel world. They grew, they aged, they died—consumed by Time.

Time was a merciless Mistress. She waited for nobody. She cared for nobody. She didn't discriminate. She just rolled by. Continued. Undaunted. Untouchable. Unstoppable. No mortals had the ability to outwit Time. All humans succumbed to Time eventually.

That included his best ever friend that he had come to consider as family.

"He is still a human, you know." His golden-haired, dark-skinned companion said.

"I know." He replied casually, and yet there was an unmistakable grave undertone in his voice. His companion gave him a meaningful look.

"Were you hoping otherwise?"

"The only reason why I stuck to him in the beginning was because of his humanity, mind you. I wouldn't have it otherwise."

"You do know that for humans he is not exactly human." His companion stated with a raised eyebrow that successfully broadcasted the 'you gotta be kidding me' look.

"I know. But he always looked like he's going to live forever, to continue terrorising the people with his gang of misfits, training all his descendants into an army of bat-shit-strong fighters, and spending his lazy time annoying the hell out of Kurapika."

A laugh.

"I concur."

Silence passed between the two men as they looked over the cemetery. It wasn't any ordinary cemetery. There was almost no order in the way the tombstones were placed. They were all over the place, with patches of earth of varying size between the tombstones. However, the placing of each gravestones seemed to be deliberate, as if the one buried in there had declared which spot he or she wanted to be buried in beforehand. He would find out later that it had seemed to be the tradition of the clan nowadays, started by the first and second generation of the revived clan. The one particularly big gravestone that stood in front of the men was their particular interest, as it usually was whenever they visited the cemetery.

"Are you going to visit the town after this?" His companion suddenly asked.

"….No."

"No? I thought you would want to keep your connection with the family even after generations."

"…It's not healthy for them to have someone from their ancestor's days visiting them now and then. It's creepy." He rolled his eyes. The Tichitt Walatta native hadn't spent his time studying humans as much as he did, so of course he wasn't aware of such thing. In the first place, the Spider Incarnation didn't exactly pay much attention to humans except to his surrogate son and grandchildren.

"But you are still nursing the memories."

He recalled the photographs of the family that he had accumulated during the time when they were all still alive. He remembered the trinkets that were memories from certain events in the family's life, all safely displayed in his room and office; the strangely-shaped crystals that Bia managed to synthesised with her Nen, some weird pearl that Meta managed to procure in one of his adventures, the scrapbook of drawing that Sarai made for him for each of his birthday, pressed flowers from the places that he went to with the family, some souvenirs from Lucifer and Kurapika when they found something interesting when they went for their respective jobs, collection of creepy stones that Noah gave to him, and many others. He categorically ran through the list of videos of the family that he had taken whenever he could.

Lucian Virgiliu smiled and raised the glass of wine while staring at the pair of gravestones before him. _Their_ favourite wine. He always brought it with him whenever he visited.

"They will never be buried."

With a fond yet wistful smile, Lucian Virgilliu gave a toast in memory of Kuroro Lucifer and Kurapika Kuruta.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ This is written on the day I finished my assessment, so that's why it's weird. Because my brain wasn't exactly functioning well because of exhaustion. Muahahahaha. Anyway, this is conversation between Anansi and Lucian, and I just suddenly thought how Lucian would be after Kuroro and Kurapika die. And yeah, they have their own Grave of the Kurutas. I figured Kurapika would probably want to be buried in the Kuruta village in Rukuso, and Kuroro would probably be buried wherever Kurapika is buried. And I somehow think that if they are ever going to die out of old age, they probably would die together in peace. In their sleep, probably. The children would probably follow the traditions of 'bury me in my favourite spot'. And in case you didn't get it, they were buried in the same grave. Together until the last, aye? XD_

_This chapter is kinda sad, I guess? At the very least, it's supposed to be melancholic. _


	30. Author's Note on ABC series

Hi guys!

I'm thinking of starting an ABC series on this installment. You know, like A is for Apple and then use the word as a theme to work on a short story. So this is where you guys come from. Give me ideas!

I'll be waiting eagerly!


	31. A is for Alcohol

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings._

* * *

_ABC Series_

_**A IS FOR ALCOHOL**_

* * *

Kuroro was rather bored. The Ryodan's latest raid had been nothing but a flawless success, but that was the problem. It was so easy it was boring. He needed to find something more challenging. Maybe he had to target a more powerful organization… Hmm… A government? If so, which one…

PURUPURUPURUPURUPURU—

Without even looking at the Caller ID, Kuroro simply answered the call. That ridiculous ringtone was especially assigned for his dear lovely wife, because she couldn't stand the ridiculous ringtone. She knew he had been reserving that ringtone for her, and it was fun to see how she tried to make him change the damn ringtone. She felt embarrassed just _knowing_ that her ringtone was so…cute-ish.

"Ye—"

**[KURORO, YOU BASTARD!]**

Kuroro blinked. While it wasn't a novelty for Kurapika to scream profanities first thing first in a phone call, he was pretty sure _this time_ round he hadn't done anything to warrant such intense cursing.

"What?"

**[You KNEW that THEY are coming!]**

Kuroro blinked again.

"Who?"

**[DON'T PLAY DUMB, YOU CONNIVING LITTLE—AAAAAH!]**

Kuroro's eyes widened ever so slightly and his spine tensed up.

"Kurapika?"

**[GET AWAY FROM ME! DON'T YOU DA—KEEP THAT AWAY FROM ME!]**

The next thing he knew, he heard the clattering sound of the phone dropping to the floor, and the distant fight that Kurapika was engaged in, and the cacophony of voices that superimposed with each other in their varying pitches. Soon enough, the line went dead and Kuroro was left with a dazed look.

Did _that_ just happen?

His first instinct was to take off and head home as quickly as possible, since he knew that Kurapika was staying home today. She had said that her Hunter friends were coming over and she wanted to catch up with them. Also, she mentioned something about her presence being required to uphold orders when Meta and Gon and Killua were in the same premise. Were they under attack? If so, he was pretty sure that nothing out there could threaten Kurapika so much she would resort to calling _him_ for help, especially when there were four Hunters with Double Stars, Shalnark, Meta, and Bia around...

Wait, she _hadn't_ asked for help.

Quickly, he took out his small notebook and flipped through the pages. His eyes gleaned the dates that he jotted down on his notebook, and quickly came to a conclusion on what had attacked Kurapika and got her into a frenzy panic.

Kuroro Lucifer threw his head back and laughed.

Well, he _might _have neglected informing Kurapika that his Spiders were coming over today, and that they were bringing _booze_.

"Trouble at home, Lucifer?" Abelard Constantin asked from behind his desk and over his pile of dusty scrolls.

"Nothing my children can't handle." Kuroro waved a dismissive hand and continued perusing the parchment in his hands.

The duke raised a bushy eyebrow.

"Your children? What—?"

"You don't want to know, Duke. You don't." Kuroro chuckled softly as he went through the parchment in his hands.

* * *

The first thing he noticed when he reached the Prancing Pony Inn was his missing wife. The second thing was the bruises that some of his Spiders; notably Phinx and Nobunaga, sported. The third thing was Phinx sprawled on the floor, looking dead to the world until the next week. The last thing was the sheer loudness and messiness of the place. Kuroro quickly made a mental note to impose mandatory clean-up on his Spiders first thing first in the following morning, hangover notwithstanding. The Hunters were gracious enough to do it without being ordered, but the same couldn't be said about his Spiders.

"Well?" He asked nobody in particular.

"Danchou! *hics* Good to *hics* see you back! *hics* Here, here! Drink *hics* up, drink up!" A decidedly drunk Nobunaga slurred as he brandished his bottle of alcohol and tried to shove it to Kuroro's face.

Kuroro wrinkled his nose. He didn't mind alcohol and had quite a strong tolerance for it, but he was not in the habit of drinking like a sailor like the more roguish members of his Spiders tended to do. Besides, he preferred wine.

"Kuroro *hics* Lucifer! *hics hics* I *hics* challenge you *hics* to a *hics* DRINKING CONTEST! *hics*" A very much wasted Leorio bellowed while staggering like a headless drugged chicken towards him, a bottle in each hand.

"Meta can do it in my stead." He said dismissively, while trying to find said boy.

"Muh—Meta *hics* is under *hic* age! You *hic* criminal! *hic*"

"Indeed." He responded drily, before making a beeline to a very sober Fino who was drinking alcohol like water straight from the bottle.

"Kuroro! Finally you're back!" She chirped at him, so _utterly _sober that it terrified him. There were at least half a dozen bottles on the table in front of her, which he was pretty sure had been consumed by her alone.

"Where's Kurapika?"

"Meta brought her back home. She was raving mad." The innkeeper's daughter giggled.

Kuroro smirked.

"How much did they," he jabbed a thumb in the general direction of his Spiders, "make her drink?"

"Oh, just one bottle."

"In one go?"

"One go." She nodded sagely.

Kuroro was silent for a while, contemplating on how to approach his wife now that he roughly knew the state she was in. After a while, he decided that he would just go with the flow.

"So... who beat Phinx?"

Fino laughed then.

"Seems like Meta inherited your alcohol tolerance."

Kuroro gave a shark-like grin.

"Indeed."

* * *

"Dad! You're late!" A very sober Meta pounced at him, and Kuroro seamlessly deflected his little fist while throwing him to the sofa. The boy landed with an 'Omph!'

"How many bottles did you consume?" Kuroro asked smoothly.

"Err… Didn't count." Meta replied, not bothering to correct the position in which he had landed on the sofa. He was comfortable enough.

"Your mother?"

"Up there." Droned Meta as he lifted a hand to point at the ceiling sloppily, before allowing said appendage to flop back to the sofa.

"Your siblings?"

"Bia is keeping an eye on Sarai in her room. Noah is in the library."

Kuroro wasn't surprised. Sarai was one adventurous kid, while Noah was an old soul. Sarai wanted to try new things while Noah had seen enough people getting wasted in the inn to know the consequences of alcohol. As for Bia, she had sampled alcohol before and was utterly disgusted at it.

"Did they drink?"

"Goodness, _no_." The thirteen years-old sat up from the sofa and gave him a horrified look. "Mom will skin me alive if I let them."

"She almost skinned me alive when I let you drink for the first time." Kuroro drawled as he recalled the day. Oh, what a memorable day.

"Exactly! I wouldn't survive it like you did!"

"And that's why you need to train more."

"Hey! _I _subdued Mom, okay!"

"When she's intoxicated, and hence a moot point—"

"But—"

"And you beat Phinx in a drinking contest." Kuroro said with a devilish smirk. "Well done."

Meta broke into a Cheshire grin. However, before he could elaborate more on his achievements of the day, something else broke into the argument.

_**I thought it is against the human law to let children his age to drink alcohol?**_ Bast asked as she climbed to curl around Meta's neck; her now self-proclaimed perch.

"I am an outlaw." Kuroro said with mirth.

_**Does that make your children criminals by default?**_

"No. But I am not exactly a human, neither is my wife, nor my children. So human laws don't exactly apply to us." Kuroro said with even wider smirk.

**Hmm… I see. Valid point.**Bast nodded her head in understanding, although in all honesty she couldn't care less about the human laws either anyway.

"Dad, don't let Mom hear it. She'll throw a fit." Meta said with a frown.

"Oh, your mother throws fits all the time." Kuroro waved a hand. "And I think it's about time I confront your mother and see to her needs."

The statement had Meta wrinkling his nose.

"Ew."

Kuroro couldn't help but to roll his eyes at his son's reaction. Of all assumptions…

"You assume too far, son. Now go and tend to your siblings."

"Right. Sure." Meta murmured sceptically, but trudged his way to the library to collect Noah.

It was past their bedtime anyway. If left to his own devices, Noah could go all night reading in the library. And he'd rather have his younger siblings locked in their bedroom before the confrontation between his father and his intoxicated mother started. No matter what his father said about him assuming to far, Meta knew that he was never too far from the truth. Besides, he knew that his father had conveniently 'forgotten' to tell his mother that the Spiders were coming with booze today for _obvious_ reasons.

His father rather liked it when his mother was intoxicated. It made her loosen up _a lot_, with all those shameless hugging and kissing and—

God. He needed sleep.

And bless his parents for having soundproof bedroom.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ Meta is growing up, Kuroro is letting his kids drink, and Kurapika needs to loosen up on her own before others make her. Reviews please!_


	32. B is for Bailout

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings._

* * *

_ABC Series_

**_B IS FOR BAILOUT_**

* * *

"Hey."

"Hm?"

"Tell me again, why are we stuck in a crate in a ship that's sailing to God-knows-where?"

Indeed, both Kurapika and Kuroro were stuck in a compromising angle in a much-too-small crate. The ship they were in swayed left and right, to and fro. Fortunately, both of them were seasoned warriors who had been stuck in worse positions and conditions to be bothered too much by ocean waves, swaying ships, and confined spaces. In fact, Kurapika swore that she felt through their Nen connection that Kuroro was rather pleased with the position they were in—which was Kurapika on top of him and straddling him on the waist, her whole upper body plastered to his, and their faces on the crook of each other's necks. The pervert…

Kuroro gave a long-suffering sigh, as if he had said this piece a good few times already.

"We went to Yorkshin, Sarai wandered off, she found the hideout of slave traders. Having inherited your ridiculous sense of justice—"

"Hey!"

"—she tried to demolish the den and freed the slaves, but lacked the capabilities and wits to do it. Yet. So she ended up among the slaves, and has been transported to the den of the slavers in God-knows-where. Therefore, we have to sneak into the ship and get shipped along to the said slavers' den."

"So why are we still stuck in this claustrophobia-inducing space and not out there kicking some immoral asses?" Kurapika grouched, although she knew why.

"And like I've said before, we need to wait until Bia and Heen have finished hijacking the ship's system. Otherwise, we are stuck in the middle of the ocean with no direction to go to."

"I could operate and navigate ships! And so could you!" She protested.

"And risked the slave masters tracking us down?"

Kuroro spoke with all the seriousness of a businessman, but Kurapika knew better. She drew back just enough so she could look at him in the eyes. Seeing the glint that she had been looking for in his eyes, she snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Bullshit. You just want some actions."

"Oh, you know me so well, Kurapika. I'm touched."

She elbowed him in the chest.

"Besides *cough* I personally would make sure that these slave traders; who have come into contact with MY children AGAIN, wouldn't have the chance to do so ever again."

"Again?"

"These are the same slave traders who caught Meta years ago, darling."

Kurapika chocked at this news.

"You didn't tell me!" She accused him.

"If I had told you, you would've gone after them, all guns blazing, strategy be damned." He snorted, although there was a degree of amusement in his voice. "And now keep quiet. Someone's coming."

And he gave her one big sloppy kiss.

* * *

Pitter-patter of small feet could be heard coming from the corridor. A moment later, the door creaked open and a small, quiet voice broke the comfortable silence in the room.

"Mother? Father?"

"Yes, Noah?" Kurapika still couldn't fathom how she could feel affection when being called with that stiff motherhood title. She'd always thought that 'Mother' title was only reserved for those upper-class snobbish people who thought being formal was cool. Kuroro, on the other hand, was perfectly content with being called 'Father'.

"Brother seems to need some rescuing."

Kurapika looked away from the computer, while Kuroro looked up from his tome. They both stared at the black-haired, black-eyed boy as if seeing him for the first time.

"What?" The mother asked unintelligibly.

"He said he needs bailing out. I quote verbatim."

Kurapika raised an eyebrow at the four-years-old's vocabulary. She threw a glance at Kuroro, who merely shrugged. Goodness knew that Noah always spoke with vocabularies that were beyond his age.

"He told you that?" Kuroro asked his youngest son curiously.

"Yes."

"How?"

"One of his daemons came and told me to tell you. He said it's 'of utmost importance and urgency, as my life is on the line'."

"And you are quoting verbatim?"

"Yes."

"Well then, Noah." Kurapika smiled sweetly at the boy. "You can tell the daemon to tell your brother that he can bail himself out. If he can send a messenger daemon to us with such eloquent message, I'm sure he is not in grave danger."

Noah blinked slowly. He turned to his father; who was giving a raised eyebrow at his mother but responded without missing a beat.

"You heard your mother. Run along, boy." Kuroro said, turning to the boy fully and giving him an encouraging nod towards the door.

Noah blinked again.

"Okay." He articulated while pivoting on his heel in an almost slow-motion, as if waiting for his parents to make some sort of correction.

Seeing that none was forthcoming, Noah promptly he went to pass the message to the waiting daemon. Later that night, Meta came home complaining, telling his siblings dramatically that his parents didn't love him anymore and didn't care whether he perished or not.

"You silly boy." Kurapika shook her head with a fond smile, before pinching the boy by the cheeks and streeeeeetched them. "You got into trouble so much and have been rescued by us for so many times, one would think that by now you would've known the drill."

"Does that mean I'm no longer under your protection?" The boy asked once his mother had released his cheeks, aghast at the prospect. He still wanted to be their little boy.

"Hmph. It'll still take you another decade to graduate from our protection." Kuroro said with an amused snort.

"Kuroro! That's not helping his self-esteem!" Kurapika admonished him with a light elbow to the ribs.

That night, Meta slept feeling secure and warm. A bit sore on the cheeks, but that wasn't new.

* * *

"Bia?"

"Yes. Bia."

"Bia, as in _our _Bia?"

"Yes. _Our_ one and only Bianca Lucifer Kuruta. Kuroro, what's so hard to believe about this?" Kurapika asked while eyeing the Spider Head with uncomprehending eyes. Why was he having such a hard time accepting the fact that their Bia now needed some rescuing?

"Well…" Kuroro leaned back in his office seat. "I never expect her to land in a situation wherein she would need dire rescuing. She has always been so adept in taking care of herself. In fact, she's usually the one doing the bailing out. Especially for Meta."

"True." Kurapika couldn't resist rolling her eyes at this statement. "But right now, she is in serious trouble and not because she goes looking for one."

"Oh? And she can't bail herself out because…?"

"Because we are dealing with a tycoon." Kurapika said with a sigh. "Who have a platoon of professional Nen users as his guards, from which an army of them is keeping Bia from escaping."

"An _army_ of them, Kurapika? Really?" Kuroro said, smothering a laugh.

"Really." Kurapika glared at him. "She did try to escape, you know."

That sobered Kuroro up. Bia wasn't the damsel-in-distress type and would fight tooth and nail to get herself out of shitholes. Although Kurapika had developed a sense of hyperbola, this time it didn't seem to be too exaggerated. Kuroro had ensured through training that Bia could hold her own against…well, at least a dozen of Nen users.

"A tycoon, you say?"

"Who wants to exploit her Nen ability for the benefit of his company." She paused. "Or so Heen and Shalnark told me. From their research into the circumstances."

"And why hasn't Heen come to her rescue yet? Isn't this one of the perfect opportunity to impress his sister?"

"Like I said, we are dealing with a tycoon who has discovered our daughter's ability and is going to exploit it." Kurapika gave him a pointed look. "With a platoon of Nen users; which includes professional Hunters as well."

Kuroro stared into Kurapika's aquamarine eyes, before giving her a huge devilish smirk. He leaned back in his chair, clasped his fingers and rested them on his crossed knees. He studied Kurapika's expression, which made Kurapika scowled even more.

"Are you insinuating that I mobilised my Spiders to—"

"Do something to ensure that Bia is not going to be targeted again in the future." Kurapika finished hastily before Kuroro could vocalise any other brutal, violent way to 'bail out' their adopted daughter. She knew it would come down to that, but she'd rather not hear it at any rate.

"Right." If it was even possible, his smirk stretched wider. "Well then, there is nothing for me to do."

"What?!" Kurapika squeaked out an indignant protest.

"We are not in any mission. Therefore, my Spiders are free to do whatever they wish as long as their activities do not draw attention to our group. If Heen wants to save his sister and recruits his Spider fellows to do it, he is free to do so."

Kurapika stared at him in disbelief, before she gave him a _very sweet_ smile. Kuroro froze in his seat.

"As I recall, your Spiders haven't done any missions for quite some time. I can only imagine how bored and itching for actions they are." She said slowly while inspecting her nails.

Kuroro frowned. There was some truth to her words.

"I'm pretty sure they will be more than happy to join Heen in his attempt to rescue his blood sister. But I'm quite concerned…" She drawled. "Since the ones that have volunteered are Nobunaga and Phinx…"

Kuroro covered his face with one hand. He knew where this was going.

"And they are not exactly the types who can do things quietly, with the tendency to throw logic, common sense, strategy, and discretion over the window—"

"Fine, fine, I get it." Kuroro finally said with a resigned sigh. If he let those fools take charge of such potentially large-scale operation, they would undeniably leave trails that would get tracked down to their home. Kuroro Lucifer would have none of that. "I'll take care of it."

"Good! Now I expect her to be back before dinner tomorrow." She purred before coming over to his seat to give him a quick peck of a kiss.

Kuroro stared at Kurapika's retreating back, wondering since when he would easily cave in to her wishes of using his personal arsenal to do things for her. Well, not that he didn't want to rescue Bia, but… Well, you get the idea.

"Devious woman." He murmured under his breath as he fished out his phone.

Apparently, Kurapika hadn't exactly been out of earshot as she soon chirped out a reply to his comment.

"Oh, I learn from the best."

* * *

By now, she could always detect THAT look whenever it appeared on his face. As a matter of fact, he could detect it too when it appeared on her face. Kurapika sighed.

"So, which one of the kids need bailing out now?" She asked resignedly.

Kuroro raised an amused eyebrow.

"I didn't know that you count that centuries-old vampire as one of your kids." He drawled.

Kurapika's eyes widened, before she dragged a hand down her face in an obviously exasperated manner.

"What did he do _now_?" Kurapika asked exasperatedly. "Oh, don't answer. I don't even want to know."

"Very well." He shrugged in a graceful manner that irked her. Sometimes.

Kurapika glared at him, but suddenly looked like she had an instant enlightenment. It prompted another raise-an-eyebrow from Kuroro.

"You know what?"

"No, I don't."

Kurapika decided to ignore his smartass-ness this time round.

"Why don't we send Meta to bail Lucian out? It's about time that he learns the arts of bailing out, I'd say." Kurapika said in a waaaaay too chipper tone.

Kuroro blinked at her so owlishly it was almost comical. Then, his expression melted into one of pure deviousness.

"Indeed. He has been bailed out so much he'll know what to do by now. Besides, I can foresee many many more bailing out for his younger siblings."

"That is what I'm saying." Kurapika's smirk grew bigger, and Kuroro wondered when she began sprouting that kind of devilish smirk. He might have been wearing off on her more than they both expected.

By the end of the entire bail-Lucian-out-of-whatever-shithole-he'd-ended-up -in fiasco—yes, it _was_ a fiasco—Meta decided that he _liked_ bailing Lucian out, while Lucian swore that he'd have anyone else _but_ Meta to bail him out from any other kind of hell. Just not the brat.

Meanwhile, Noah began wondering how he could get into a situation where he would needed to be bailed out by his family. It seemed like so much fun…

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ The kids need some sort of bailing out sometime in their life because it is just in their nature to get into trouble. Or to create one. And Noah is waiting for his turn. Lucian just has to be included. Reviews please!_


	33. C is for Cockroach

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings._

* * *

_ABC Series_

**_C IS FOR COCKROACH_**

* * *

All of the members of the Lucifer Kuruta family were ridiculously strong; that was an indisputable fact. However, many believed that Sarai had the strongest pair of lungs by far. Ever. Not to mention the inhuman level of decibel that she could effortlessly reach. It was to many people's (victims and witnesses alike) belief that her had-yet-to-be-discovered Nen would be something related to her earth-shattering shrieking ability.

And she wasn't hesitant to employ it when SHE felt that the situation warranted it.

"_KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"_

Like now.

"For the love of sweet mother of God, cease your infernal screeching, you Little Banshee!" Cried Lucian as he attempted to plug his ear canals. It was a useless attempt, really.

"Then do something about IT!" She exclaimed shrilly as she pointed at the offending object with one pudgy finger.

"Oh, for the love of— It's just a cockroach!"

"It's GROSS!"

"Gross?! Compared to all the unmentionable grossness that you have encountered while gallivanting around the world with your father and eldest brother, this thing is rather CUTE!"

"Eew!"

"That raptor baby that you adopted is EW!"

Sarai gasped in indignation.

"Bibi is cute!"

"You named the thing?!" God, what the hell was wrong with the little twerp's sense of aesthetic?! Where did she get it from?

Sarai narrowed her green eyes in an offended gesture; her expression an exact replica of her mother's. Lucian widened his eyes in trepidation. He knew where this was going. When Sarai took an alarmingly deep breath, Lucian knew that he had to do something to salvage his eardrums.

"GAH! Fine, fine! I'll exterminate the damn thing!"

Before Sarai could unleash the capability of her lungs once more, Lucian had dove towards the poor critter. With one clawed hand, he grabbed the bug while taking care not to squish it into mush—insect juice all over his hand was just ew!—and proceeded to fling the said critter into the very very far distance.

"There! Happy now?"

"Yes! You're wonderful, Lucian!" Sarai gushed shamelessly; something that he suspected was inherited from one devious Spider Head.

Lucian snorted.

"Why did you get me to take care of it, anyway? You could just get your stone-faced brother twin brother to take care of it."

Sarai shot him an are-you-stupid look.

"Oh. Right."

Noah would do absolutely nothing. That boy was loathe to harm any living creatures unless they directly threatened his family. When such happened, _then_ he could be necessarily ruthless. Kurapika had been proud of him and his sense of morals, while Lucifer had this scaaaary glint in his eyes as he scrutinized his son, like he understood something deeper within the boy…

"What about Bia?"

"She'll fry it!"

"So?"

"The smell!" She hissed.

"Oh. Damn. Meta—"

"Will throw it at me!" She whined woefully.

Well damn right. That insufferable bully had a habit of throwing his siblings into nasty situations in excuse of toughening them up.

"Your father—"

Sarai glared at him.

"—will do the same as Meta. Right. Your mother—"

"Will stand guard until I dispose it myself." Sarai muttered sullenly.

Lucian felt a shred of pity at the girl. In this aspect, she was perhaps the most normal among her siblings. And none of her family members took her screaming-like-a-banshee nonsense. They made sure that she wasn't getting her way through screaming bloody murder. Lucian had thought that Lucifer wouldn't partake in such discipline, but lo and behold he did! The wonder of all wonders.

"So you chose me because I'm the only one you can bully into doing the dirty work." Lucian grumbled.

"No." Sarai said with a what-are you-talking-about tone.

Lucian blinked.

"No? Then why me?"

"Because," Sarai chirped innocently, "Papa said you are the Lord of the Cockroaches."

That evening found Kurapika comforting one depressed vampire and Kuroro educating his children of the metaphor behind the title bestowed upon their 'uncle'—and that it was a compliment, really!

…Not that it helped much.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ Poor, poor Lucian. He would never get away from the bullying. Review please!_


	34. D is for Dream

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings. _

_**Author's Note: **__Before you read this, go to Youtube and search "O Come, Emmanuel" by the Piano Guys. I swear I am not trying to preach the gospel to you guys. I was listening to this music as I wrote this chapter. Perhaps you will appreciate this chapter more when you read as you listen to that music._

* * *

_ABC Series_

**_D IS FOR DREAM_**

* * *

The night was rather cool, with gentle breeze teasing the leaves and grass. The sky was cloudless, a clear midnight space with glittering stars in the distant. The moon hung low and bright, a silvery rim glowing around it with rainbow ring at the edge. It was quiet, the crickets and nocturnal birds singing their song quietly and solemnly, as if singing an ode in respect of the distant souls that had passed through life into the existence after.

Amidst this solemnity was a little boy sitting on the rooftop of his comfy little house. His face was tilted towards the moon, his abysmal dark eyes staring right through the glowing sphere. There were tear trails streaking down his chubby cheeks, his body rigid like a guardian statue overlooking the house. A frail-looking, gentle guardian statue. So small, so fragile, so quiet…

"Noah?"

The husky voice came from behind, accompanied by the barely audible tapping sound of bare feet against the roof tiles.

"Father." The boy acknowledged, his voice was but a quiet whisper.

The father didn't say anything. He stepped forward until he was right behind the boy. He slowly and soundlessly sat down behind the boy, his presence bearing a sense of protection for the boy; as if saying that even in quiet nights like this, he would always have his father's support. The man wasn't exactly a very demonstrative person when it came to affection, but when there was nobody to look on, to judge him, to criticise him, to observe for his weaknesses, when there were only his _family_ around, he would openly show his affection.

He pulled his son gently to his lap and embraced him protectively.

The boy instantly leaned back into his father's hard chest, his body relaxing at the warmth that his father was enveloping him in.

They stayed like that for a long, long time. The nocturnal creatures continued with their songs, undisturbed by the arrival of another man. The stars twinkled, and the moon glowed soothingly above them. The wind danced gently around them, playing with their black strands of hair.

The silence was then broken by the little boy.

"I had a dream…" It was the barest whisper.

"A nightmare?"

The boy shook his head slowly, almost empathically.

"No. A dream." He whispered, his eyes glazing as he stared far away, past the moon hanging overhead. "A dream of the days of past long gone…but not forgotten."

The man closed his eyes, a slight stab in his heart.

"Are those happy days?" Father whispered back to son.

"Yes." There was smile in that word, in that voice. A wistfulness.

"What did you remember?" Father began stroking his son's hair gently, almost soothingly. He wasn't soothing his son. He was soothing his own soul.

"There was a lady. A really pretty lady." The boy began with a lilt in his voice, as if he was in a trance. "She has black hair and black eyes. Just like you and me."

The man buried his face in his son's hair. His hand continued its motion.

"There was a boy as well. He looks just like me, around my age, but he has your birthmark on his forehead…" The boy tilted his head sideways slightly. "He looks like a mini you, Father."

"Mmhm." The man couldn't help but to smile at the words.

"The boy was on the lady's lap. They were sitting just like this. Like us now." The boy leaned further back into his father's chest. "He was playing with her hair, and she was singing lullaby for him."

A sad smile on the man's face.

"Do you miss it?" It took all he had not to choke on his words, all he had not to let his voice waver.

"Yes."

"Do you wish you can go back to those days?" His whisper was even quieter.

There was silence.

"No." The boy leaned further to his father's embrace. "I'm happier here."

"…I see."

He embraced his son tighter and inhaled softly the juvenile-yet-distantly-ancient scent of the boy. He remembered that time; burying his face to the same texture of hair with the same faint sandalwood fragrant. He remembered the soft cooing voice at that time. He remembered the gentle, protective embrace.

"Do you know her, Father?"

He smiled. He cried.

"She was my mother."

* * *

On the other side of the house, in her bedroom, a woman was cradling her other youngest. She rocked back and forth, chanting the age-old prayer of her tribe softly and gently.

_Sun in the sky, trees upon the ground,_

_Our bodies are from the Earth,_

_Our souls come from the Heavens above._

_The Sun and the Moon shed light on our hands and feet,_

_The Nature rejuvenates our bodies,_

_Sends our bodies to the Wind that blows across the plains._

_Give thanks to the Gods who abode in Heavens_

_For the land of the Kuruta._

_Let our spirits live in everlasting vigor and protection._

_I seek to be capable of sharing the mirth with my people,_

_To be capable of sharing their sorrows._

_Offer homage to the people of the Kuruta tribe,_

_Let our blazing Scarlet Eyes bear witness…_

She chanted and prayed, over and over again, but the little girl in her arms kept weeping silently. It bothered her, as her daughter usually cried openly and loudly. This time, the girl was so quiet, as if shedding her tears to pay her respect for something sacred and precious but long gone…

Her eyes blazed scarlet, and so did her daughter's.

They embraced each other as they shed tears together for their clan that was long, long ago. It had been reborn with new blood, but it would never be the same. It would never be the same clan that woman had known in her childhood. It would not be the same clan that her daughter was seeing in her dream.

A dream, the little girl had said. A dream, not a nightmare. It was a dream. A precious, precious dream.

So the little girl wept. Because she knew it was just a dream. She would never meet those wonderful people she saw in her dream.

It was just a dream.

A dream of the past long gone.

Gone.

They would never come back.

Her sons, her daughter, even her _adopted _daughter and her _husband_—they were all that was left of the clan. So small. So new.

So… precious.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ The twins were visited by memories of their parents' past. Noah missed the days of Ishtar, Sarai lamented for the distant family she would never know. Kuroro proudly called Ishtar his mother. Kurapika considered and treasured her little family as what was left of the Kuruta clan; including those by blood and those by adoption. And believe it or not, she included Kuroro as part of the clan. A very melancholic chapter._


	35. E is for Eggs

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings._

* * *

_ABC Series_

**_E IS FOR EGGS_**

* * *

"What…are these?"

"As you can _see_, they are eggs, darling."

"Don't you _darling_ me, jackass. My question is: eggs of WHAT creature are these?!"

It was just another day in the Lucifer Kuruta household; another potentially noisy day when all members were around—i.e. when both Kurapika and Kuroro happened to be home and off their respective jobs. As it was, this time the reason for the noise was a certain basket full of questionable-looking eggs that was sitting innocently on their dining table.

"I don't know," answered Kuroro with an uncaring shrug.

Kuroro Lucifer brought home a basket of questionable objects and HE DID NOT KNOW what they were. Kurapika's suspicion went sky-high and her alarm bell went off to high heaven.

"_What?!_" Kurapika hissed and drew back from the eggs, as if it was oozing toxic fume. "You brought _home_ something you don't know?!"

Knowing their jobs and the things that went along in their job description—meaning danger and dangerous items—Kurapika and Kuroro made it an unspoken policy (a lot of things were unspoken between them, but that was for another discussion) to never bring home something from their jobs that were the least bit questionable or suspicious. Reasons being: nothing could prevent their children from conducting inspections on said suspicious objects; in which the result could potentially be more hazardous than the objects themselves. Bringing home suspicious objects were just short of suicidal in their terms.

"These are not from my trip, mind you."

"No?"

"Nope."

"Then from where?!"

"Mr. Fruity gave it to me."

Kurapika's eyes threatened to pop out of their sockets.

"Mr. Fruity?!"

Mr. Fruity was the fruit vendor of their quaint little town. He was a regular visitor to the inn because he supplied the fruits there, and he occasionally visited the children because he just so adored those little monsters—including Fino's own little fiend. That big, bulky, muscular man was a gentle giant with little kids; absolutely harmless. He _loved_ passing free fruits to the kids via Kurapika or Kuroro. He was also one of the few people in town who knew of the family's secret—them being the new Kuruta clan and protected by the Hunters Association—and his role in this aspect was to keep prying eyes and ears away, and interfered when suspicions arose.

'Mr. Fruity' wasn't his name—obviously—but a nickname bestowed to him from really-young Meta when he first knew the hulking giant of a man. Meta refused to call him by his name, Kuroro never bothered to remember his real name because the nickname from Meta was more interesting, and Kurapika forgot his real name in the end. Meta's siblings simply followed in their eldest brother's footsteps.

"…He is a fruit vendor."

"And he doesn't sell eggs, yes." Kuroro rolled his eyes. "But he gave it to me, telling me that each of us could have one egg."

Indeed, there were six eggs sitting innocently in the gargantuan basket; all of different sizes, shapes, and colours. Kurapika looked at the egg, then to Kuroro, and then back to the egg again.

"I don't trust these eggs." She muttered.

"Kurapika, eggs are not to be trusted." Kuroro said seriously in a you-should-know-better tone and with a straight face.

Kurapika looked up to Kurapika with a raised eyebrow. What was he trying to say? That all eggs were dangerous?

"They are either to be consumed, or hatched." He dodged a flying fork. Apparently his wife wasn't exactly in the mood for jokes.

…And where the hell did that fork come from?

"I'd say we get rid of these before the kids come home." Kurapika wanted to massage her temple. She could just imagine the headache coming from trying to get those sticky fingers off these suspicious eggs.

"That's a shame. I'd love to see what creatures hatch from these eggs." Kuroro picked up one egg and examined it. "They are beautiful."

"Creepy." Kurapika muttered while eyeing the biggest egg of the whole batch; it had weird patterns with weird texture on the shell, and was more enormous than a gigantic watermelon. "But you agree that we should get them out of here before the kids return."

"Indeed. I wouldn't want to have to deal with four excited children _with_ six hatchlings." The ever practical and pragmatic debonair said flatly. Under normal circumstances, he would wait until the eggs hatched, and then he would deal with them. However, when taking into account four insanely curious children and _what_ they would do _with_ those hatchlings, such notion is not appealing anymore. Kuroro had learned this lesson the hard way before; something that Kurapika was still gleeful about until now because the 'lesson' was at _his_ expense.

"So how do we get rid of them? We can't just throw them away, and I wouldn't want to destroy these."

"The usual."

Kurapika raised an eyebrow, willing him to elaborate more. He did.

"Call Lucian."

* * *

Kurapika was close to hysterical, and Kuroro was—for once—at loss on what to do.

Here they were, standing on the outskirt of the forest that was their 'backyard', and both were undecided on which way to proceed. They had called Lucian and asked for his service in regard of the eggs, yes. Lucian had answered and agreed to adopt those eggs for his own research, yes. They passed the eggs to him and he flew back home, yes. He had all six eggs with him, NO.

Noooo, things didn't go as planned because Sarai just had to overhear their conversation and the sneaky little thief just had to steal the smallest egg of the batch and hide it away until it hatched. And lo and behold! A healthy baby raptor was born from the egg, and it thought Sarai as its mother.

That wasn't even the worst part. The worst was that ALL children seemed to be taken to the raptor baby and were adamant in keeping it as a pet—even _Noah_. So when Kurapika put down her feet and demanded that they handed over the raptor baby so she could ship it to Lucian, the children decided that it was high time that they rebelled. So they upped and flew to the forest, taking the raptor baby with them.

And as mentioned before, the forest was the children's playground. They knew every nook and cranny of that place, and neither Kuroro nor Kurapika could hope of ever finding them when they decided that they didn't want to be found in the forest. They could comb the forest with their En—which could now stretch to a few miles when combined—but Meta and Bia could use In while Meta had a daemon who could put invisibility on Sarai's and Noah's presence. They would never find the children unless Kuroro used his Solomon Ring—which he would never use for anything short of an apocalypse.

"A raptor… A damn raptor! Why didn't our rings turn red when we were around the eggs?!" Kurapika moaned in despair. Their enchanted rings were supposed to notify them when there were mythological creatures around! Were their rings defective?

"…To my knowledge, raptors aren't exactly…mythological." Kuroro said slowly.

"What?! But aren't they the cousins of dragons?! Sort of?"

"Well…" He covered his mouth in his trademark contemplative gesture. "I'd say dinosaurs are more of historical creatures, but not exactly mythological because there are physical evidence left behind."

"The bones?"

"I suppose."

"What? So mythological creatures don't leave behind bones when they die?"

Kuroro gave her a knowing look.

"Remember what happened to Ishtar when she died?"

That sentence sent an ice down Kurapika's spine and her heart missed a beat. She remembered that night when Ishtar turned into ashes upon her death very well—too damn well—along with the promise that Ishtar made her swear; which she ended up keeping until this very day anyway but still raised Kurapika's suspicions that the medusa _knew_ that things would end up like this.

That _devious_ woman. Kuroro definitely took that trait from her, birth mother or not.

But still. It was a sad memory.

"….Oh."

Kuroro's face was unreadable, but his eyes were telling her that the memory still disturbed him but he had come to terms with her death. Finally. Kurapika knew how long he had let the memory festered inside him, like an infected wound. She still remembered years ago in Tichitt Walatta, when Kuroro took a four-year-old Meta into the temple and they both mourned for the passing of Ishtar's spirit. She supposed that was when Kuroro managed to somewhat reconciled himself with her death and his shortcomings when it came to her.

"So, I suppose this solves the question on why our rings didn't turn red?"

"It still doesn't explain how Mr. Fruity can get his hands on the raptor egg! They are not supposed to exist!" Kurapika was close to pulling her hair off her scalp by now.

"Well…"

Kurapika honed in her attention to Kuroro. She _HEARD _that tone—the tone that betrayed Kuroro's I-knew-but-didn't-tell-you attitude to Kurapika. Without further ado, Kurapika pointed one accusing finger at the Spider Head, the other hand on her hip, eyes narrowed into slits, and lips curled back into a snarl that befitted an angry canine.

"_YOU!_"

"Yes, me?" Kuroro tried his I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about-I'm-innocen t blink at Kurapika.

"Out with it!"

"With what?"

"Kuroro Lucifer! WHAT have you NOT told me?!"

"That Mr. Fruity is part of an underground ring?"

"Yes, that one—WAIT, WHAT?!"

Kuroro sighed with a smile. He always found it cute whenever Kurapika was this flustered. His darling Kuruta was just so gullible. Too bad her eyes weren't turning scarlet. He loved those eyes.

"Mmhm. He came across these eggs and thought that since you are a Hunter specialised in endangered clans, you probably can do something for the babies from these eggs. After all, they didn't look like any other eggs in existence, so it's safe to assume that these eggs are of endangered species. This is your area of expertise, so to say."

Kurapika stared at Kuroro as if he had just grown ten more extra heads. Wait a goddamn minute. Did she hear him correct? Kurapika had long ago understood Kuroro's lingo and she knew perfectly well what Kuroro had just indirectly said. And if she understood correctly, the jackass had tricked her AGAIN. So Kurapika did what she always did.

She exploded.

"YOU KNEW?! YOU CONNIVING BASTARD, YOU KNEW THE EGGS ARE DINOSAUR EGGS!"

"I did not. I simply assumed they are eggs of unusual creatures that are not exactly mythological; which I concluded to be something historical or highly endangered. I didn't know it would be something to the scale of _pre-historical._" Kuroro retorted back in his defence.

"And you still—"

"Kurapika, what's the harm, really?" Kuroro said in attempt to placate her further, after she had simmered down a bit and had stopped trying to loop his head off. "Look at us. I have Solomon Ring, Meta has an army of daemons at his becks and calls, Bia has a safety parameter set around the house which will automatically paralyze anything with harmful intention towards us, and we are living with two unicorns—one of them demonic, mind you—in our backyard. We have Lucian, Anansi, and Hatsubaba as backup plan."

"But—"

"Nevermind that they are dinosaur eggs, but they only produce _babies _when they hatch. How much damage can babies; dinosaur or not, do to us, anyway?"

"What about when they are _grown_?" Kurapika snarled viciously, attempting one last time to sock him in the face but failed. "We can't have a fully grown raptor running around in town! It will attract people from other places, and the last thing we need is a bunch of curious idiots and greedy scumbags coming to our doorstep!"

"It will be taken care of when the time comes, Kurapika." Kuroro said gently as he stepped around to stand behind her and squeezed her tense shoulders lightly.

"I want it taken care _now_." Kurapika whined, like a petulant child.

"Let the children have their fun. We already have two unicorns living in the forest and the townspeople—with the exception of Fino—are still none the wiser about them. We will be fine, Kurapika."

"But it's a predator…" Kurapika protested weakly.

"So Sarai will have to take care of it. It's about time that she learns about responsibility, yes?"

Kurapika thought about it. She kinda liked the sound of it because goodness knows how much a spoiled kid Sarai could be when she started ditching responsibility like smelly sock. Kuroro spotted the look in her eyes and he knew that he had hit jackpot. So he delivered the coup de grace.

"We will be fine, Kurapika. We will always be." He purred, and pecked her on the cheek.

Kurapika visibly relaxed and Kuroro knew that he had won the case. Next was to make peace with the children and negotiated the conditions.

God, these children were becoming fine terrorists.

* * *

**RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!**

"3 a.m… Goddamnit… Hello?"

**[Lucifer! It's T-REX!]**

"….What?"

**[The gigantic weirdass egg is a T-rex egg!]**

"Right. Congratulation on now having a T-rex in your home. I'm going back to sleep."

**[WHAT?! Hold on a minute! That overgrown lizard is destroying my home! Do something about it!]**

"Lucian, you agreed to take in the eggs knowing that they are dinosaur eggs."

**[I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR A GODDAMN T-REX!]**

"None of us do. Good night."

**[WAIT! HELP ME OUT HERE!]**

"No. I'm going back to sleep."

**[LUCIFER, YOU DEVIL!]**

"I'm living up to my namesake, thank you very much."

**[**_**NU E UN COMPLIMENT**_**!]** (it's not a compliment)

After hanging up the call, he turned the phone off, locked it inside the bedside drawer, and promptly snuggled back into the warmth. Apparently, Lucian's infernal screaming had managed to wake the other occupant of the bed.

"Nngh… Whassat?" Came the bleary voice.

"Nothing. Go back to sleep." He whispered sleepily and pulled her to him. After having Lucian's high-pitch shrieks assaulting him so early in the morning, he'd rather spend the rest of his sleep cuddling with his woman under the warm blanket.

To his delight, she didn't fight back and instead tucked her head under his chin, effectively nuzzling his collarbone.

"Stupid loud vampire at 3 a.m. in the morning…" She muttered before succumbing to sleep.

Evidently, she had heard enough.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ A random chapter. I had a problem with E because there are so many candidate words but none give me an interesting story. So here. Eggs. Completely random. This is how Sarai adopted that raptor baby named Bibi that was mentioned in previous chapter. Oh, and Fino and Shalnark had a kid. Finally._


	36. F is for Fever

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings._

* * *

_ABC Series_

**_F IS FOR FEVER_**

* * *

"No."

"Yes. You obviously need—"

"No. End of discussion."

"Excuse me?!"

"This is not getting anywhere."

"Obviously! You aren't even listening!"

"Because your argument is not relevant."

"WHAT? Not relevant? My argument, _not relevant_? KURORO LUCIFER, YOUR FEVER IS 40 DEGREE CELCIUS AND YOU ARE SAYING THAT GOING TO THE DOCTOR IS NOT RELEVANT?!"

"I just need to sleep it off!"

"YOU SAID THAT THREE DAYS AGO, YOU JACKASS!"

* * *

She contemplated the possibility of it going physical, and the result of her contemplation said that it was going to be really, _really _soon. She then wondered how it would end. It was hardly predictable, and while it had yet to be habit, she wasn't sure if this was going to ever be predictable in the future. After all, both her parents were quite…fickle? Volatile?

"Hey, Bia."

She looked up from her cappuccino and was greeted with the sight of her brother slipping into the room while indulging himself in a tub of ice cream—something that he wasn't supposed to do but was possible only because their parents were busy in the next room going bejesus at each other. She bet the people at the Prancing Pony would've heard the entire argument had Bia not set up a sound barrier—a nifty skill that Heen taught her. When was he coming to visit and teach her new tricks, she wondered?

"Are they still at it?" Meta asked as he flopped on the sofa while cradling his precious frozen cargo.

_**THUD!**_

"_WOMAN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"_

Both children whipped their head to the general direction of the argument with Meta blinking owlishly and Bia raising both eyebrows. Did they just hear their father _shouting_ at their mother?

_{Well, what does that sound like?} _Bia finally said with her Nen-writing.

"Gee! This is serious." Meta said in shock, but at the same time excited. Exciting things always happened when their calm-as-a-frozen-lake father got worked up to the point of raising his voice.

"Eeee! Fight!"

Before the owner of said voice could zip away and slip into the Ground Zero, Meta reflexes had prompted him to catch the barrelling bundle of energy by its leg and flipped it to the couch. Said bundle landed with a 'whoop!'

"Ow! That wasn't nice!" Said bundle protested squeakily.

"I've just saved you from being a potential collateral damage, pipsqueak." Meta said while shoving a mini-iceberg of ice cream into his mouth.

"Mama and Papa will never hurt me!"

"Yeah?"

_**CRASH!**_

"Well, what do you think is…._was_ happening next door?" Meta rolled his eyes. Obviously his parents were now taking the showdown outdoor. Oh God, he hated doing the carpenter work.

"They are fighting."

"Yea duh. _Why_ are they fighting?"

"Uh… I dunno?"

_{Daddy is sick, so Mommy insists that he goes to see the doctor. He doesn't want to.}_ Bia answered her little sister casually as she walked over towards the door. She would have to assess the extent of the damage on the wall and the furniture, and start doing some planning for the repair works.

"Sick?" Sarai widened her eyes in horror.

"Yep. Deliriously sick. So do you think he'll have the awareness to avoid _you_, when you can't strictly stay on the sideline when watching the—"

"Do we need to evacuate?"

Meta choked on his ice cream.

"Why would we need to _evacuate_?" He squeaked, his face beet-red from the strangulation-by-ice-cream.

"If _Papa_ gets sick, then it has to be something _REALLY_ bad, right?" The little girl said with a comically horrified face.

"Well…"

The logic wasn't ungrounded, because the kid had never really seen their parents getting sick. The fact that Lucian and Spiders had regaled them children with stories of Kurapika Kuruta and Kuroro Lucifer gallivanting around in some epidemic-infested places and coming out unaffected wasn't helping either. And really, Meta wasn't sure how _bad_ the illness was. If Dad had been having a 40 degree fever for three days straight, suffice to say that it was probably something that would have killed lesser people (read: all other humans, his father ain't no human, that's for sure). Come to think of it, Dad hadn't stepped out of his bedroom at all for the past three or four days. Was he quarantining himself?

Oh gawd.

"This is bad."

"SWEET MOTHER OF JESUS—NOAH! When did you get here?!"

"Since Mother and Father catapulted themselves through the wall and out into the open." The four years-old boy deadpanned, his abysmally black eyes assessing their parents' bedroom with the critical observation that DID NOT belong to a child his age. He was one hell of a creepy kid.

"What's bad, Noah?" Sarai bounced from her heat and draped her arms over her twin's shoulders, giving him a sloppy hug from behind.

"Father's illness."

Sarai's emerald green eyes widened even more.

"It does not warrant an evacuation, sister." He deadpanned, as if reading his twin's thought. He paused, and added as if as an afterthought: "Not yet, at least."

"YARGH!" Meta shuddered. "Time to call for reinforcement!"

_{What reinforcement?}_ Bia asked with a raised eyebrow. {_And I'm not aware that Daddy being sick will require 'reinforcement'.}_

"Dude—"

_{I am not a dude.}_

"Yeah whatever, man—"

_{And neither am I a man—}_

"Okay, okay! Fine, _sister_. What I was trying to say is that if what Noah said is true, then obviously Dad's illness is something that would've killed any other humans!"

"Positive." Noah confirmed with almost comically robotic voice.

"Exactly! So normal doctors will not work on him!" Meta said enthusiastically while pointing an ice-cream spoon at Bia. "Not even Leorio!"

Bia frowned.

_{So who—}_

The white-haired girl stopped mid-sentence, before enlightenment reached her. Her eyes widened and her mouth formed a neat 'o'. Meta, seeing her expression, wiggled his eyebrows at her; suggesting that he knew that she was thinking whom he was thinking.

The understanding was lost on the twins.

"Who who who?" Sarai asked, bouncing on her ball of her little feet and looking positively curious.

"Why, of course we'll be calling on the _greatest witch doctor_ in the world!" Meta said dramatically while marching towards the door.

"Yaaay! Grandma!" Sarai squealed in delight, eliciting a wince from her twin brother; whose ears were at an entirely too close proximity to the girl's mouth.

_{Should we ask Bara to fetch her?} _Sarai asked as she trailed behind the blond boy.

"Nah. The trip from here to Ryuusei-gai and back to here again will take too long." Meta said while waving his hand dismissively in a manner that was reminiscent to his father's. Now where did Mom put her cell phone—oh screw it, he'd just ask his daemons to play fetch for him.

Noah, in the meantime, stayed in their parents' bedroom with his eyes fixed to the gaping hole on the wall where his parents had made their exit in their haste to settle their difference in the outdoor. Sarai went back to flopping all over him, observing his expression as he took in the air in the bedroom.

"Hey hey, Noah?"

"Mm?"

"You know what's making Papa sick, right?"

Noah nodded.

"Is it really serious?"

Noah turned to look at Sarai in the eyes. Obsidian black met emerald green, and the mischievous glimmer in the former wasn't lost on the latter.

* * *

_God, he has to be so damn sick if I manage to beat his sorry ass in a match,_ Kurapika thought sourly as she hauled his limp body over her shoulder.

In their history of sparring—coughtfightcough—Kurapika had _never_ beaten Kuroro in a match hands-down. If she managed to score an utter win against him, he had to be so badly incapacitated—which went to say just how sick the man was. Stupid arrogant man with astronomical ego had the gall to hide his sickness from her. Had the moron forgotten that they shared the same bed? Of course she would know! Not to mention that their shared Nen told her plenty about his health as well. Why did he bother to keep it secret from her anyway? Was he expecting her to just know telepathically that he was sick and therefore do something to take care of him? Sheesh!

Kurapika continued grousing as she walked back towards her house, and found a pleasant surprise from her children in the form of one scary-looking old hag who was already making herself at home in the house. If anyone could fix Kuroro, that would only be her.

After some thorough examination—which comprised of the witch doctor ruthlessly jabbing her clawed finger into Kuroro's chest, penetrating the flesh harmlessly due to her Nen but still eliciting a mild cussing from a startled Kurapika—Hatsubaba knew what was wrong with Kuroro Lucifer. She felt like beating the boy up herself—Kuroro would always be 'the boy' to her, no matter how old he was—but Kurapika had done the deed and it was pointless to beat him up when he was already out cold anyway.

"Good that you've managed to beat this stupid fool out cold. Now I can administer the proper treatment without him making my life so difficult." Said witch doctor said as she flexed her wrinkly fingers menacingly and with a sadistic grin on her God-awfully scary face.

Only Hatsubaba got away with calling Kuroro Lucifer a stupid fool, and she personally felt that she was completely justified to call him a stupid fool. Who contracted 40 degree fever from food poisoning?

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ The children over-reacted with their father's illness, Noah is trolling his siblings, Kurapika—being the good responsible wife she is—tries to make Kuroro see reason and go to the damn doctor to get himself checked out, Kuroro hates going to the doctor and probably had ingested some food infused with poison of enough dose to obliterate an entire village, thus causing said fever. Reviews please!_


	37. G is for Game

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings._

* * *

_ABC Series_

**_G IS FOR GAME_**

* * *

Honestly, this was a game. At least for _him_, this was _just_ a game. However, he never thought that _they _would think this as a game too.

"Killua? What's wrong?"

The young silver-haired Zaoldyck didn't reply. The question from his black-haired companion didn't even register to his brain because he was too busy staring. Killua Zaoldcyk continued ignoring Gon Freeces as the latter kept prodding and poking the former.

Currently, both Killua and Gon were partaking in some relatively illegal activities in the underworld. …As in mafia-kind of underworld and not hell-kind of underworld. They wouldn't ever go to hell-kind of underworld; that was more of their dear friend Kurapika's wacko family's expertise. They wouldn't be surprised if one day they got a call from Kurapika telling them that her family was going for some vacation to Hades or the Underworld, or whatever you call it.

Anyway! Killua and Gon were participating in some tournament held by some underground organization. It was a tri-annual event that had no restrictions on anything, including age and Nen. Even if you were a toddler with no Nen abilities, you could still participate as long as you could fight. Also, the rewards ranged from handsome amount of cash to rare artefacts.

"Killua? Helloooo? Earth to Killua?"

Killua and Gon had passed the preliminary stage and were just killing time for the rest of the day as their next match was tomorrow. Hence, they decided to go and check out the Team Category. The tournament was divided into two categories: the Individual and the Team, and they were quite self-explanatory in the rules. In the Team Category, they had to have at least three and maximum five people per team.

Right now, Killua was staring at one of the teams that were fighting in the arena. Team A consisted of five grown-up people, all Nen-users but Killua could tell that individually they weren't very good fighters. Well, in the first place that was _why _they teamed up anyway. Team B, however, simply blew his mind away.

It was a group of kids. _Children_.

The two older kids were probably in their pre-adolescence, while the other two were barely out of their preschool age. Only the older boy had the barest hint of muscles, and the rest were just children with soft flesh and round faces. They were so delicate and cute, it was hard to see them as fighters.

"Wow! Kids!" Gon exclaimed, finally noticing the cause of Killua's moment of dumbness.

Killua just nodded silently.

"Ne, Killua…" Gon leaned sideways towards Killua and asked in a whisper, as if asking a secret question. "Don't they look familiar?"

Indeed. One of the reasons why Killua was so dumbstruck when observing the group of kids were because they looked so suspiciously familiar. All of them had brown hair and brown eyes; very plain and nondescript. None of them had any distinguishable features; it was as if they were clones of each other, only with minor varieties like how both the girls had wavy hair.

"Oh, here comes the Kiddies team."

Killua's ears virtually perked at the words. He turned to the spectator who had just said that comment. Gon had opened his mouth and was about to say something, but Killua shoved his fist into his mouth to silence him.

"Those kids are scary like hell. Where the fuck did they learn the art of fighting? It's as if they been fightin' all their bloody lives."

"Yeah. But what made me almost shit my pants is the fact that those two brats there," he pointed at the youngest boy and girl, "ain't even Nen-users."

"Seriously? You're shittin' me."

"Naw, I ain't jokin', pal."

"But how the fuck did they beat the lovin' shit outta those Nen-users in matches before this?"

"Eh, beats me. Maybe they're just bloody damn good."

"No shit."

Killua then observed the expression and body language of the kids. She was jittery like hell, hopping from one foot to another in _excitement_. That uncannily familiar grin on her face was so wide it almost split her face horizontally into two. Beside her was the youngest boy who looks like her twin, staring at the opponents with passive expression that struck a familiar chord in Killua's bones. Similar indifferent face was on the oldest girl's face, while the oldest boy was so much at ease that he looked more like he was waiting for a bus in a bus stop than waiting for sign to start the brawl.

_**GONG!**_

That was the signal for the fight to start, and Killua held his breath.

He scrutinised the kids. He studied their movements. He analysed their fighting skills.

"Shit."

Of course he knew these kids.

"Uh, Killua. Wasn't that your Shadow Steps technique just now?"

Indeed. All of the assassin families; including the Zaoldyck, had Shadow Steps technique in their skillsets but it varied for each family. This particular one that the oldest boy in the group had just used belonged to Killua's family. Killua had only ever taught that skill to one person in the world.

Killua groaned.

There was no mistaking it. Those moves, those attacks, those techniques; those were Meta's.

* * *

The more he observed, the more he could see each kid through their disguise, and the influence in their fighting style.

The eldest of the bunch (at least by appearance) was definitely Meta; who fought mainly bare-handed and obviously favoured good ol' physical brawl. His martial arts skills utilised his arms for deflecting attacks and his legs for the offensive; something that Killua suspected was taught by Kuroro Lucifer himself. His overall combat style was, strangely enough, predominantly Gon and Killua style. He was _aggressive_, unlike his father who preferred counter-attack. Perhaps it could be attributed to the fact that Kurapika, Killua, and Gon were the ones who taught combat to the boy for the earliest years of his childhood. He could only imagine that the Spider Head decided to let the kid developed the fighting style he was most familiar with, and built it from there. The man also obviously had ridiculously high expectation on the kid. For obvious reasons, Meta never used any 'special' Nen skills, opting only to use those advanced techniques of Nen to enhance his combat abilities. He couldn't possibly summon any of his daemons to the arena as it would cause uproar. After all, those daemons weren't supposed to exist in the eyes of the masses.

That older girl who fought extensively—and by extensive Killua meant _massively_—using Nen was definitely Bia. That kind of finesse in Nen manipulation—courtesy of long gruelling _years_ of training and the presence of one very particular mentor (you know who)—only belonged to that girl, along with her utter aversion in close combat. She hadn't moved from her spot since the beginning of the fight! Besides, she had the lousiest combat skill among her adopted siblings. She had no weapons on her, but Killua was pretty sure she had some kind of electromagnetic barrier erected around herself that would automatically incinerate anyone that managed to get close to her person. She was ruthless like that. Killua wasn't very familiar with Bia, but he had the suspicion that her combat training was overseen mostly by the Spiders. Kurapika had told him once that her biological brother was the newest member of the Ryodan; that half-dead man that they saw during their infiltration to Bensalem years ago. The man was nice enough, if not a bit too reserved to Killua's liking. From what he knew, the Spiders were the types that took care of their own. It seemed that Bia was as good as being a Spider. Kurapika would throw tantrums if she knew. Or maybe she already knew?

The youngest boy was unmistakably Noah; what with that blank face. He fought with a bisento that was twice his height and he swung it around like it was hollow inside the shaft, but Killua knew better. He was the counter-attack type—much like his father—using momentum and redirecting attacks to cut short his energy expense and effectively using backfire tactics on the opponents. He fought with cold calculation and precision, it was giving Killua the chill. No child his age should have that kind of precision in their movements. The kid was creepy like hell, and Kurapika once told Killua that Noah took on his paternal grandmother's trait more than his parents. Killua didn't even know that Kuroro had a mother—he assumed that he had none since he came from Ryuusei-gai; suffice to say that most Ryuusei-gai people were orphans—but whoever Kuroro's mother was, she had to be THE shit. Kurapika also mentioned in the passing that the bisento belonged to said grandmother. Well, at least the lady had some great taste in weaponry. The bisento was wickedly _beautiful_.

The youngest girl—who happened to be the most overzealous of the whole bunch—was obviously Lucian's Little Banshee; Sarai. She was using a weapon that was reminiscent of Kurapika's tanto during the Hunters Exam, but was far modified as it looked more like combination between nunchaku and katana rather than a pair of tanto. It was basically two short katana connected by a slim chain to each other by the butt of their hilt. She mainly used the weapon in two-sword style sword fighting, but she would periodically use the wicked weapon like a three-section staff or a morning star. This form of weapon fighting was passed down from Kurapika, as she claimed that it was her family's specialty in the Kurutan martial arts. She was very agile but wasn't very strong, so she compensated by slipping around and going for the small openings of her opponents. But oh Lord. The kid was just like a bull from Hell with its butt on fire. She charged head-on recklessly, and it was as if she had no sense of self-preservation whatsoever. Leorio often complained about the ungodly amount and frequencies of injuries on her body, and wasn't shy in voicing his opinion that the girl probably was secretly masochistic. The comment earned him a gusto bite on the arm by one indignant Sarai. Killua was pretty sure that her Nen would be the Enhancement type, once she managed to unlock it. Her fighting style was akin to Kurapika-on-sugar-high or Kurapika-on-steroid-overdose. Killua didn't understand where the heck all those energy came from.

And right now, those kids were beating the loving shit out of their opponents.

"They are obviously playing." Gon said gleefully.

"I'd say they got this sadistic tendency from their sire." Killua deadpanned.

"But how come they're here? I'm surprised that Kurapika let them participate." Gon said innocently.

Killua snorted.

"She obviously doesn't know."

"Oh, actually she knows."

Both teenagers spun around abruptly, surprised by the new voice that had just joined their conversation. It was no other than Kuroro Lucifer himself, with a devilish smirk on his face.

"I don't believe you." Killua said with narrowed eyes. He didn't even feel his presence approaching them. This man was dangerous.

"Oh, you never do believe me, Zaoldyck boy. At least most of the time." The smirk grew wider, and Killua understood why Kurapika was often itching to claw that smirk off his face.

"Why would Kurapika allow them in this tournament? And why isn't she here?" Gon said innocently.

Whatever misgivings Gon had with the Spider Head, it seemed to have gone since long time ago—at least when it came to Kurapika and their kids. The spiky-haired boy still didn't fully trust the man when it came to other things. They didn't know whether it involved copious amount of threats or anything, but they only trusted Kuroro Lucifer when Kurapika gave her words to vouch for him. If Kurapika said that Kuroro Lucifer was or wasn't going to do something, the man would damn well behave as accordingly.

"Our dear Kurapika is busy with Netero and his whimsical missions right now." Kuroro nodded with a knowing smirk.

Killua had the suspicion that the Spider Head and Netero was conspiring together to ensure that Kurapika was busy during the duration of the tournament.

"And as for why she would allow them in the tournament, you can guess." The man said entertainingly.

"You have to be here to oversee them?" Gon immediately guessed.

"Oh that goes without saying, but no that's not why Kurapika agreed." The man still smiled.

Killua snorted. For the criminal head honcho he was, Kuroro Lucifer was amusingly protective of his little Hell-spawns of children. But then again, a lot of criminal big shots were.

The young Zaoldyck observed the fight as Gon proceeded to fire off even more outrageous guesses to the Spider Head. For whatever reasons, Gon got along with the Spider Head and the latter obviously had a kind of soft spot towards the former. Perhaps it was because of the connection that Kuroro Lucifer had with Ging.

"She made them swear not to kill anyone, didn't she?" Killua finally guessed, after seeing how the kids simply beat up their opponents and avoided the vital points.

"Indeed." Kuroro said dryly, and Killua swore he head the hint of frustration in his words. Was the man frustrated at Kurapika for sheltering the kids?

"You want them to kill someone in this tournament?" Gon asked candidly.

"I have nobody that I wish dead in this tournament, if that's what you're implying." The man replied readily. "But Kurapika can be so naïve sometimes."

"Naïve as in?"

_Like you, Gon_. Killua was tempted to say that out loud.

"There is no point of sheltering them from killing, really." Kuroro shrugged, and both Gon and Killua could hear the unspoken words: _sooner or later, they would have to do the deed, so might as well condition them to it._ "But she made valid point with the argument."

"What point?"

"Defeating an opponent without killing them is harder than going for the kill immediately." Kuroro Lucifer gave a deadly smile. "This is a test of control for them."

Killua shuddered. This man was seeing this as a game. An opportunity to test the kids. Killua's mind and instinct whispered the same word over and over again:

_Dangerous, dangerous, dangerous._

"So how are they doing so far?"

"Decent enough. Sarai, not exactly."

Killua agreed on that. How many limbs had that girl chopped off anyway?

"Why do you make them disguise themselves?" Gon asked again. He sounded like he was playing twenty-questions game.

"Their identities have to be kept secret. Kurapika would go ballistic if people can track their origin to the Kuruta tribe and the Genei Ryodan. That's another condition that Kurapika imposed, isn't it?" Killua said while turning to stare at the man before him.

"Indeed. Not so much a condition, but more of an agreement between us. It would be most inconvenient if we have to deal with the repercussions."

Killua couldn't agree more. If they discovered the kids to be Kurutan and children of the Genei Ryodan, that was it. They would be hunted down by the world, and where could they run away to? …Well, the Genei Ryodan probably could systematically exterminate the armies and the underworld forces, and then there was Ryuusei-gai. He had heard from his parents that all Ryuusei-gai people were Nen-users to certain extents. Perhaps that was why Kuroro Lucifer deemed it as inconvenience rather than anything else.

This whole tournament is a game for Killua and Gon. They didn't want the rewards, they just wanted the challenges.

This tournament was also a game for Kuroro Lucifer. This was a field test for his children.

And if the expressions on the kids' faces were anything to go by, Killua was damn sure that the kids thought of this as a game to kill time.

_Dangerous, dangerous, dangerous family._

Meanwhile, many miles away from the arena, one Kurapika Kuruta was fuming mad that she couldn't watch her kids in their game and to make sure that they _behaved_.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ Killua is paranoid of Kuroro, Gon is getting along with his father's acquaintance, Netero and Kuroro are conspiracy-buddy against Kurapika, and Kurapika is just as crazy as Kuroro. Reviews please!_


	38. H is for Hisoka

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings._

* * *

_ABC Series_

**_H IS FOR HISOKA_**

* * *

"Big Brother, are we lost?" whined the baby of the group.

"Are we, Bia?" Said Big Brother turned to the Big Sister.

_{No. Can you not tell?}_ Bia asked with a frown.

"Nah. You have the whole mountain mapped up with your Nen. You are practically the walking map! So practical and convenient!" Meta grinned at her, his fingers laced together on the back of his head.

_{Tsch. One day I will leave you stranded in the middle of this mountain and see how you will find your way back home.}_

"Aaaw, you won't do that to you, will you?"

_{Want to bet?}_ She glared at him.

"Big Brother is so useless." Sarai giggled.

"Oi. You are even more useless than me, runt. Shut it." Meta poked the little girl on her forehead playfully. "You haven't even awakened your Nen yet."

"I will soon! You just watch it! My Nen will be waaaay more awesome than you!"

"Improbable." Noah mumbled beside her.

"Noah, you meanie! You are supposed to take my side!" Sarai slapped her twin brother on his forearm. The latter only reacted with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, he's telling the tru—"

Meta stopped talking and whipped around to one particular direction. He bent his knees and widened his stance reflectively. Bia did the same, but with more grace and subtlety. The twins stopped walking and Sarai looked questioningly at her elder siblings. Noah, on the other hand, merely frowned as he read the drastic change of mood in the elder children. He promptly inched closer to Sarai, his stance the barest hint of protectiveness towards his twin sister.

"What's—"

"Stay behind us." Meta told them quietly, his voice firm and steady.

Sarai, being the smart girl she was, kept quiet and obediently stood behind Meta's much larger frame. Her elder siblings rarely turned tense like that, so this was enough warranty for Sarai to hide herself and fingered the daggers that she kept hidden in her belt. She glanced at her twin and saw that his hands were also ghosting along the hilts of the throwing daggers hidden along the length of his belt. Out of the four children, Noah was their father's best disciple in throwing knives.

It was common practice for the children to carry weapons on their person at all time. Meta and Bia knew why, but the younger ones didn't. They simply assumed that it was a normal thing to have hidden weapons in their belt, or to have hidden cache of weapons in their boots or in the soles of their shoes or under their sleeves. Meta suspected that Noah knew but kept quiet. That kid was just too creepy, with that I-know-what's-going-on look in that eyes that were so identical to their father's.

They didn't have to wait long until the cause of Meta's wariness emerged from the bushes ahead of them. The threat appeared in the form of a tall lanky man with flaming orange red that defied gravity, with pallid skin and gaudy costume. A flash recognition sparked in the man's narrow eyes, before the same happened to Meta.

Inwardly, Meta spluttered and cursed with languages that would make Buddha's ears bled.

"Aaaaaaaa! You're that paedophile who beat the shit outta Shalnark!" Meta screamed while jabbing an accusing finger at the man in question, and the latter raised a quizzical eyebrow.

Hisoka had been wandering around this mountain for a while. He remembered that there was a town around here, and that he had met a powerful man in that town. The _sexy _powerful man that had _defeated_ him clean! He had been hoping to see that man again, to fight him again. Oh, the mere thought turned him _on_! But that aside…

This blonde Kurapika look-alike before him, with an entourage of strange children behind him, was acting hostile and distrustful towards him. For some reasons, the boy's behaviour reminded him vaguely of Gon when he was about the boy's age. Oh how time had flown. He still remembered that sweet _adorable_ little apple of his. He wondered how he was now? Maybe he should check on him, after playing with these kids~~~

"Eee! Big Brother said the bad word! Ear muffler!" Sarai squealed excitedly while playfully covering her ears.

_{When was that?}_ Bia asked calmly with a raised eyebrow, although she was preparing herself to run for the hills any moment now. This man was _dangerous._ They couldn't take him on.

"Who cares?! RUUUUUUN!"

So the children ran like bats from hell at their eldest brother's cue. Of course Hisoka didn't miss how _coordinated_ the children were, how _ready _they were. They had been trained well. Very, _very _well. Hisoka licked his grinning lips.

"Mfufufufu. Children are just _so_ _adorable~~_"

* * *

"Noah and Sarai, stay with Bia! Bia, cover them in your Nen! Hide their presence!"

_{Roger that.} _

The twins immediately ran to their eldest sister's side and Bia grabbed their sleeves. She immediately infused the fabric with her Nen, to conjure a kind of illusion by erecting a kind of hologram. The twins immediately vanished from naked eyes. This was a trick that only Bia could do, taught to her by Heen. The white-haired girl herself immediately went into Zetsu mode. She then threw a cool look at Meta.

_{Are we separating?}_

"Yeah. I've met him before. He'll definitely come after me. I'll lure him away from the town. You go home and warn Mom."

Bia gave him a measuring glance. Under normal circumstance, she would question all his decisions and judgements to make sure that he had considered everything and thought things thoroughly. This time, there was no luxury for that. The man was dangerous. Her priority was to get the smaller children away from that psycho. She would have to trust Meta's judgement now.

_{I'll leave him to you.}_

Meta threw her a confident smirk that was reminiscent of their father.

"See you at home."

Tightening her grip on the twins, Bia boosted her Nen and speeded away from Meta to the direction of the town. Meta immediately veered to the opposite direction. He kept his Nen at reasonable level, so that the psycho would follow him without suspecting that he was being led away from their home. His plan worked as soon enough he could feel the psycho's bloodthirsty Nen making a beeline towards him. His Nen sent chill down Meta's spine. At his current level, he couldn't survive fighting that psycho without using his daemons. He didn't want to reveal his daemons to that man. He'd heard of him from his parents. They told him never to reveal his potential to that man, and told him _why_.

_Shit, shit, shippity shit! He's coming closer! _Meta screamed mentally.

"Come here, boooy~~~ Play with me~~~"

_GAAAAAAH!_

Meta didn't even dare to look over his shoulder. He could feel that _thing_ (no, he refused to call him a person anymore) several metres behind him. He could virtually felt him breathing down his neck.

Suddenly, the bushes ahead of him shook and he could hear footsteps of someone running towards him. Meta allowed himself a gigantic grin. He would know that Nen signature anywhere. Lucian might be a vampire, but his presence was equivalent to Nen signature. It was probably the same thing anyway.

With enthusiasm, Meta put more power into his legs and juuuuuuumped….

"Hey, squirt! Your crazy mother sent me to—"

…over Lucian's head while going into Zetsu state—allowing said vampire full view of a charging Hisoka; who promptly skidded into a full stop and started _ogling _Lucian like he was a fresh piece of juicy meat. Lucian's pale face turned white beyond white (if that was even possible) at the sight of him.

"—AAAAAAAA!" Lucian immediately turned around and ran back the way he had come from. "YOU ARE THAT CRAZY MOTHER OF ALL PSYCHOS!"

Hisoka, unsurprisingly, lunged after the fleeing man. The blond boy had gone into Zetsu state and so it would be too troublesome to track him down now. Nope, he had better things to chase after, i.e. that nice piece of ass that was running in front of him. Oh just his luck! Not only that he had encountered four promising little children, but he also got to meet that powerful sexy man! Life was so wonderful 3

"Come now~~ I'm pretty sure my reproductive—"

"IT'S A FIGURE OF SPEECH! AAAAAAAAAH! RUUUUUUN!"

"Oh don't be such a tease! Come play with me~~"

"_**YEAAAAAAARRRGH!**_"

* * *

"Meta!"

Said boy whipped his head around, only to find his mother landing on the ground a few feet from where he was. Meta immediately redirected his legs to run towards his mother. He did wonder how his mother usually could find where he was even when he was in Zetsu state. He wondered if it was the work of her dowsing chain? That stuff is _wicked_.

"What are you doing here?!" Kurapika put her hands on her hips.

"The pscyho is here, Mom!"

"Which psycho exactly? There are a lot of psychos out there."

"Mom!"

"I know, I know." Kurapika rolled her eyes. "That's why I'm asking you: why are you here?"

Meta gasped with a scandalised expression.

"What do you mean?! Are you saying that I'm supposed to go with that psycho paedophile—"

"I sent Lucian to help you get rid of him." Kurapika deadpanned, while eyeing her oldest son critically.

"Oh." He relaxed, only to immediately perk up. "…Can I kill him?"

"GOD _**NO**_!" Kurapika couldn't help but to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Just use one of your daemons to erase his memories or something while Lucian distracts him!"

"Oh. Right." Meta smacked a fist to his palm with a comical 'light bulb!' expression.

"Now get going!"

"But Moooom… Can't Lucian just take care of him?" Meta whined. He was just too lazy to go back there.

"Young man." Kurapika started threateningly. "In five…four…"

"Yes, ma'am! Understood! Consider it done!" Meta gave a military salute before vanishing among the trees to track down Lucian.

Kurapika stared to the spot where Meta had vanished to, before she turned around and began walking back to the general direction of the town. She shook her head with a fond smile on her face.

"Tsk. Killua influenced him too much."

Suddenly, she heard a really loud and shrill shriek in the distance. She contemplated it, before shrugging. She might have neglected to tell Lucian about Hisoka but oh well. The Lord of the Cockroaches would survive.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__Meta was behaving like Killua, Bia was a walking map, Hisoka made his appearance again (finally), Lucian was tricked by Kurapika, and Kurapika had absolute faith in Lucian's survival. Review please!_

_Oh, and check out my deviantart (name is funchan there). I did a sketch on an adolescent Noah._


	39. I is for Inheritance

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings. _

_**Author's Note: **__It seems that people have come to anticipate all of my chapters as humorous. Unfortunately, this one is not a comedy. This is an insight on Noah and the Solomon Ring._

* * *

_ABC Series_

**_I IS FOR INHERITANCE_**

* * *

The temple of Ryuusei-gai. The place was off-limits to the residents of Ryuusei-gai, but it was an open property for his family. He wondered about it, and pondered about it. His siblings didn't seem to question it, exploring the temple to their hearts' content. But Noah was perplexed. Even when the first time his parents brought him to the temple, he felt like he had been there before. There was something so…familiar. Endearing.

Noah stopped. Before him stood his father, his back towards him and his hands in his pockets. Father was cloaked in his customary attire; white shirt, black blazer, black pants, and black shoes. Mother often teased him whenever he was in this attire; she would playfully call him 'pompous bastard'. Not the most elegant word; but then again Mother was never into elegance like Father. In fact, Noah suspected that Mother stayed away from elegance because Father _was _elegant.

"Father."

"Noah."

The greetings done, they stood together facing the temple of Ryuusei-gai in comfortable silence. The sun was low on the horizon, bathing the entire city and the temple in golden. The family was on another visit to Ryuusei-gai, and Father had summoned him here to this very spot. When they departed, Mother had thrown Father a knowing glance; it would seem that there was necessary business to be done between him, Father, and the temple of Ryuusei-gai. It would seem to be the purpose of this visit. Mother never did like visiting Ryuusei-gai very much, after all. This had to be important for her to insist on coming along.

After a while, Father turned around and looked him over. He scrutinised him, as if searching for something in him before he made his decision. Noah tried not to fidget under the scrutiny, but found it hard to accomplish. Father hardly scrutinised his children. He would often do it with people to the point of creepiness (as Mother once described it), but not with the children. He only did that when he was going to make monumental decision regarding them, and it was never predictable—either he was going to kick them off the proverbial cliff, or he was going to give them an early Christmas present.

Father took out his right fist and held it towards him. When Noah's eyes were on the fist, Father slowly uncurled his fist.

The Solomon Ring sat on the palm of Father's hand, its brass body gleaming wickedly under the light of the falling dusk.

"You know why you are here."

Noah pressed his lips.

"Yes."

Being presented with the Solomon Ring in such manner, of course Noah knew. When he looked at the circumstances; there was only one reason why he was being summoned here to the Temple of Ryuusei-gai alone without his twin, and only in the presence of his father.

Father had chosen him to inherit the cursed ring.

"Can you hear it, Noah?"

Noah narrowed his eyes as he stared critically to the cold brass ring resting on his palm. He could hear it. He had always been able to hear it.

_Master…_

For a long time, he could hear them.

_Master… Back… Late… back… wish. Say. Master say. Us. The wish. Tell us. Wish. Master. Youareback. Late._

Faintly, he always heard them. They were distracting, like a buzz inside his head that he could not get rid…

_Mastertellusyourwish…_

Whispering, beckoning…

_Yourwishyourwishweshallmakeyourwishcometruetellust ellustellustellus—_

"Noah."

He blinked. He looked to Father, and then back to the ring.

"Don't listen to them."

He nodded silently. He was almost drowned in the whispers. Again. The demons, they were clawing at his consciousness. They were trying to claw their way out of the ring. Out into the open. To be free. Free through him.

"Are you ready to take it?"

The words were firm, but Noah could hear the underlying soft tone of concern. His father was concerned for him. Worried for his sanity. He wondered how his father managed to keep his sanity intact, with the whispers always on the edge of his consciousness, on the back of his mind. Persistent. Relentless. _Maddening._

Noah shook his head in negative. He felt ashamed, but he knew he had to be truthful. The Solomon Ring could not be in the hand of someone with weak mind and spirit. Mother and the Old Lady Hatsubaba had told him that many many times. His mind was still weak, his spirit vulnerable. He was not ready to take on this responsibility.

A hand rested gently on the crown of his head.

"I was 29 when I inherited the ring. There is nothing to be ashamed of if you're not ready. You are only 18."

His father always knew. His father always understood.

Noah nodded again, this time deeper and heartfelt. Grateful.

"What about Grandmother?" He asked quietly. He had been told the history. Had been told about his father's mother, the previous master of the Solomon Ring.

…

"_Your Grandmother wasn't human." There was hesitance when his father said it, but there was no deceit. His father was telling the truth. Noah suspected that this was a case of a slip of tongue—Father wasn't supposed to tell him this. Noah smiled. Mother would be furious at Father._

"_Are you?" Noah asked him softly. _

"_Not exactly." His father answered with a shrug, uncaring in his attitude. _

"_Am I?" _

"_You are my son. And so are Meta and Sarai."_

_Conclusion: He and his siblings were not exactly humans._

"_Mother?"_

_Another pause. Another hesitance. Or was it uncertainty?_

"_She is as human as she can be."_

_Father wasn't certain. _

"_Big Sister?"_

"_Bia is human." There was confidence in the tone. Bia was completely human. She wasn't their biological sister then._

_Noah nodded. It didn't matter. Humans or not, they were family and family was precious._

…

His father snorted at his question.

"She was probably a few centuries old when this ring came to her."

Silence descended between them. Father broke it when he turned around and gestured at him to follow.

"Come."

Obediently, Noah followed him. They entered through the front gate of the temple, passing certain rooms almost ceremonially. Noah wondered if his father was doing this purposely, he wondered if this was the ritual. They went through the temple ground, and entered the forest beyond the temple. Noah could feel the beasts residing in the forest observing him critically from the distance, as if studying him to determine his worth. It was unnerving.

"Father…"

"Hm?"

"When the time comes for me to inherit the ring from you…Will I have to do it like how you did to Grandmother?"

Father's footsteps faltered for a second, before he composed himself and continued walking as if Noah's question had not unsettled him at all.

"No. You will not have to kill me to inherit the ring, Noah."

Noah breathed a furtive sigh of relief. He had dreaded it for a second. He was so preoccupied with his relief that he almost missed his father's soft muttered words that followed:

"I wouldn't put my son through the same torture that I had to suffer…"

* * *

_**Greetings, Kuroro Lucifer.**_

"Greetings, Lady. It has been a while."

_**Indeed. **_The Lady of the Lake tilted her head ever so slightly. _**I see that you bring someone else with you. Your son, I presume? **_

"Indeed." His father answered politely. There was respect in his voice, as well as wariness.

_**The similarity is uncanny. I feel like I am looking at you from decades ago.**_ The Lady smiled with fondness. She liked Father.

"My gene is strong in him. So is Isthar's."

The Lady fell into contemplative silence, the air around her curious and…wistful. Immensely. She was close friend with Grandmother then.

_**It is as you say. I see Ishtar in him.**_ The Lady turned to Noah fully. _**Come closer, child. Allow me to look at you closely.**_

Noah turned to his father, and received a nod. He stepped forward with firm steps, although he was reluctant to leave the protectiveness of his father's back. The Lady floated further from her lake, hovering at the edge while bending down from the waist so that her face was closer to his. Noah stood his ground. The Lady was safe. She meant no harm.

_**What is your name, child?**_

"Noah Lucifer Kuruta, Lady." Noah gave a polite bow.

_**Impeccable manner. I am impressed, Kuroro. **_There was mirth in the Lady's voice, as if she was teasing Father.

His father merely shrugged. The Lady's smile grew softer.

_**What is the purpose of this visit? I do not think this is a social visit, nor is it a visit to simply introduce your brood to me. You never brought your children to me for introduction before, although I would love to meet the rest of your offspring.**_ The Lady asked as she drew back, and Noah took the opportunity to return to his post slightly behind his father.

"I am the fifth master of the Solomon Ring. He shall be the sixth." His father said succinctly.

The Lady's body language was tense for a moment. There was surprise and shock on her features, which soon morphed into that of…anger? Indignation?

_**He is but a youngling!**_

"I am not giving him the ring now, my Lady. I am merely introducing the next successor to you. Call it a precaution, if you must." His father said lightly, as if the implication behind those words did not disturb him in the slightest.

_**You say it as if you have planned your demise early.**_ The Lady said after a contemplative silence, voicing out Noah's thoughts.

"Death is part of life, my Lady. You are well aware of that. Death comes like a thief, swooping down on unsuspecting victim without prior notice. I would not risk leaving the Solomon Ring without a master because of sheer recklessness and lack of foresight."

The Lady was quiet for a while before she spoke again in a soft voice.

_**You expect me to look for him in the unlikely event that you perish before passing the ring to him.**_

Noah could not hold back the shudder. Unconsciously, he inched closer to his father, as if to ensure that he was indeed there physically and _alive_. That he was not going anywhere soon.

"Unlikely, indeed, but not improbable. I am unwilling to take the risk." His father said firmly, his voice allowing no argument.

_**Very wise and responsible of you. Ishtar would be immensely proud of you, Kuroro.**_ The Lady smiled gently, and her visage seemed to glow brighter. _**Depart with your spirit at ease, my boy. I have seen your son's spirit, and so I will seek him out when the unfortunate happens.**_

"My gratitude, Lady." Kuroro bowed in respect, and Noah followed the example.

_**And likewise you have my gratitude for upholding your duty to the fullest. Now go. I fear that poor Anansi might not be able to fend off Kurapika any longer. **_

There was a laugh in the Lady's voice. It surprised neither him nor his father to hear that his mother was trying to trespass into the temple ground for the sake of checking out on them. Noah saw his father rolling his eyes with a fond smile on his face—it wasn't a secret that Father thought it cute when Mother worried about him or the children so much.

Noah followed his father as they turned around to walk towards the temple. Noah could feel that his father's mind was at ease but Noah's heart was heavy. He did not like the Solomon Ring. It burned his mind. The prospect of him becoming the master of the ring, guarding it alone until the end of his lifetime, was dreadful. He didn't want the ring. He didn't care for the promises that it offered him.

Because when he finally inherited the ring, that would mean that his father had died.

Noah hated the Solomon Ring.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ Kuroro was being paranoid, Noah decided that he despised the Solomon Ring, and poor Anansi had to take on the role of a bouncer against an antsy Kurapika. Reviews please!_

_And by the way, kicking someone off the proverbial cliff is referring to the old saying that lions kick their cubs off the cliffs to teach them survival and independence. And don't you feel for poor little Noah? I'd try to destroy the goddamn ring first if I were him. _


	40. J is for Justice

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings._

* * *

_ABC Series_

**_J is for Justice_**

* * *

They didn't know what _just _happened. For all they knew, one moment they were standing in one of the Hunters Lounge in the Hunters Association building while discussing their latest missions, the next moment the ground beneath them just suddenly collapsed and they fell into a heap into a hole deep, deep, deeeeeep into the deep, dank, dark Earth. Kurapika knew that this had to be a prank done by someone she knew very very well because this kind of trick could only be done by that 'someone'…Or rather, she would have realised that sooner if she hadn't realised _first_ that she was in a very very compromising situation. I mean, _position_…

"CASH! Get off me!"

"I'm trying! But my feet are stuck!"

"Then unstuck them, you buffoon!"

"I'm trying!"

"TRY HARDER!"

"Oh sweet mother—Kurapika, stop screaming bloody murder!"

"I wouldn't be screaming if—GAH! STOP GROPING ME!"

"What?! I'm not!"

"YOU _ARE _GRABBING MY BREASTS!"

"Oh. These lumps are your boobs?"

"_**STOP SQUEEZING THEM!**_"

Before Kurapika could sock Cash in the face and proceeded to maim him where-the-sun-doesn't-shine and making sure that there would be no Father's Day for him, the massively muscular Hunter was bodily hauled off Kurapika's nearly squished body. Kurapika could hear the sound of him being beautifully manhandled across the room, and she immediately knew who her 'saviour' was. The Nen signature was unmistakable. Kurapika didn't know whether she should be grateful—the man wasn't even supposed to be _here _in the Hunters Association building, but Kurapika's mind was too preoccupied to notice that tiny little detail—or whether she should just dig deeper into the Earth and bury herself alive.

_**CRASH!**_

…Then again, by the _sound _of it, he was probably too furious to notice her embarrassment.

…Hold on a second. Backtrack, backtrack. Him? _Furious_?

Deciding that she could NOT miss this spectacle of the year, Kurapika quickly made her way up the hole and managed to poke her head out of the hole just as Kuroro lifted have-seen-much-better-days-before Cash in one hand by the man's collar, with his other hand in his pocket. Kuroro then proceeded to tell the hulking mass of a Hunter in a very gentle voice that made Kurapika shudder; because she didn't miss the delightfully sadistic undertone:

"You would make a fine target practice for the children's knife-throwing practice."

Said children—who were currently huddling close together under one of the desks in the lounge—gulped hard. They could oh so feel their father's gaze targeted towards them, penetrating through the thick wooden desk. They quickly came to the conclusion that they were in deep _deep_ _**deep**_shit because they knew that their father _knew_ that they were the cause of their mother getting groped by her _male _colleague.

"Is it just me, or Papa found out about us?" Sarai whispered anxiously at her siblings the moment their father exited the room with the poor unfortunate Hunter in tow, undoubtedly to arrange for said practice.

"He does." Noah replied evenly and softly, completely unperturbed.

_{I told you that it IS a bad idea, you imbecile!} _Bia elbowed Meta in the ribs, _hard_.

"But you have to admit that it's fun!"

_{It is NOT fun when we will have to practice our knife-throwing every single bloody day for the next four weeks because of your idiocy!}_ If Bia could speak, she would be hissing like an angry cat at Meta.

"You said you want to see Dad gets jealous!" Meta hissed back at her.

"Jealous over WHAT, exactly?"

The reactions varied among the children the moment they heard their mother's ominous voice. Bia mouthed 'shit!' and automatically smacked Meta in the arm (out of habit because Meta always did stupid things), Sarai yipped like a puppy whose tail was stepped on, Noah's shoulders twitched slightly, while Meta...

"YEAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHANothing."

…jumped almost a foot high and hit his head against the desk as he laughed like a maniac, before finishing it up lamely. The boy then quickly clamped his mouth shut and stared down at the floor. He suddenly found the ceramic very very intriguing, with their exquisite shininess and glossiness and—

"Metatron Lucifer Kuruta."

"…Yes…"

"Out with it."

"….Weeeell…." Twiddle-dee, twiddle-dum, twiddle-thumbs…

"Well?" Foot tapping impatiently against the ceramic floor.

"Well…Dadalwayslookscoolandcalmsowewonderedifwecan gethimallworkedupsowetriedtogethimjealousandseehow hereactsbecausewehonestlyneversawhimgetjealousover anything."

Bia elbowed Meta hard in the ribs _again_, Sarai (who apparently understood perfectly what Meta was belching out in bullet-train speed) nodded sheepishly, while Noah kept his stoic impassive face while mentally counting one, two, tree…

"Three months of kitchen duty for you."

"WHAT?! Not fair! This wasn't my ide—!" Meta attempted to jump in protest, but hit his head on the desk again. "—owww!"

"I wasn't finished." Kurapika said with even voice, although her lips were twitching as she tried to hold back an amused grin. Her eldest son could be so silly sometimes, for all his awesome Nen.

"There's more?" The ten-years-old boy whined. Another elbow in the rib and another "Oomph!"

"Library duty for Sarai, bathroom duty for Bia, and laundry duty for Noah. Three months. No Nen allowed. No duty-switching allowed."

The reactions were as expected. Meta looked like he wanted to beat himself up for his own stupidity and for not planning a more foolproof plan. Bia looked like she was going to barbeque Meta because she obviously was roped into the scheming unwillingly (but still couldn't resist the temptation of a good sport). Sarai was gawking at her in horror, as if her mother had just given her the death sentence (which was probably as good as being true in this case). Even Noah looked mortified; Kurapika could even swear that he was begging her to reconsider _his _punishment through his soulful Kuroro-alike eyes—which obviously didn't work on her because she had had practice with Kuroro, that cunning bastard.

"Duty starts tomorrow, and don't think that you can cheat because your father and I _will_ know."

"Does Dad even know of this?" Meta said pitifully, as if trying to find a loophole in the punishment. He'd be damned if he had to do kitchen duty for three months. The kitchen _hated _him!

"Oh, believe me, he would've given you worse punishment than this if it's him who's passing the judgement." Kurapika rolled her eyes. She could see him marooning them in some uninhibited island full of carnivorous beasts and plants as punishment, with the excuse of training them. He'd done that before. Well at least now Kurapika knew that their children would undoubtedly survive any Armageddon or apocalypse.

"Why are you two making such a big deal over this?" Sarai whined. "It's just a joke."

"I do not appreciate being manhandled inappropriately, young lady, joke or not. Now out of the desk and off to home." Kurapika said sternly with her arms akimbo.

"Dad does that to you all the time…" Meta grouched.

Unfortunately for him, Kurapika oh SO heard that.

"Five months of duty for you, Meta."

"WHAT?! NO, I WAS JUST JOKING!"

_{Idiot…} _Bia rolled her eyes.

"I know, right." Sarai giggled, while Noah simply snickered.

Kurapika watched them as they dragged themselves out of the desk and towards the door. Just as they were closing the door, she reminded them:

"Oh, and don't forget the knife-throwing practice."

Loud groans and complaints erupted from behind the closing door, as well as the sound of Meta being violently mobbed by Sarai and Bia. Noah didn't seem to mind the knife-throwing punishment; he loved throwing shiny pointy objects around, much like his father.

Kurapika couldn't help but to pat herself on the back. It amused her to no end how each children had their own aversion to different cleaning duties, as if they had assigned each other which duty they should hate.

Meta utterly _abhorred _kitchen duty for reasons that she never understood why. He kept claiming that the kitchen hated him, but Kurapika thought perhaps it was because he almost got impaled by kitchen knives at one point of time. Well that was his own fault for messing around in the kitchen without minding the shiny pointy stuffs. Bia didn't like cleaning bathroom because she simply thought bathrooms are generally gross. Noah didn't mind doing chores around the house, but Kurapika had noticed that he was the least willing about doing laundry. She didn't know why, but would probably find out soon enough. Three months of getting stuck in the laundry room was bound to make the boy talk about why he didn't like it. As for Sarai… Well, it was quite obvious why she didn't like the library. It was all books and books and books and books… And the thought of sorting out and cleaning them at the same time was just overwhelmingly insane for that I'm-allergic-to-books girl.

She didn't see what was so horrifying about all those duties. The family was clean—Kuroro was clean _freak,_ and he generally made sure that the children were also adhering to his standard of cleanliness, which generally made them clean _freaks _as well—so it was not like they would encounter all gross things in the kitchen, bathroom, laundry or the library. Especially the library, because Kurapika and Kuroro religiously made sure the room was clean and free of mites.

Well, she supposed they were just kids being kids.

_**Well, that was entertaining… **_A voice purred from somewhere around Kurapika's feet.

Out of reflex, Kurapika almost kicked whatever was talking down there but fortunately she managed to rein in her leg before she kicked the bejesus out of her son's daemon cat.

"You have been watching the entire time?"

_**Indeed. It was most amusing, although I believed it was not very wise of them to pull off that trick. They could have done better than that.**_

Kurapika decided to ignore the last part for now. She just had to thank her lucky star that she didn't have to endure an even worse prank that the latest one. Although she still had to know…

"Why is Kuroro here in this building? He's not even supposed to be here." Kurapika tried asking the cat because she was usually privy to whatever pranks that Meta concocted.

_**I believe your children told him that there was something really interesting that he should check out himself.**_ The glee wasn't subtle in the black cat's voice.

"That's flat-out giving away that they are the one behind the scene." Kurapika scowled. The cat was right; they could have done a better job than that.

_**Indeed.**_

"If you think it's not wise, then why didn't you stop them?"

_**Well, it's just as the boy said: it's a good sport.**_ The cat sniggered as she licked her paw and cleaned her face.

"It's a good sport when you're not the one in the receiving end." Kurapika groused as she adjusted her collar uneasily. She still felt _wrong _from being groped _there_.

_**Agreed. But it's quite amusing to see Kuroro Lucifer getting all worked up just because someone else groped your assets. Possessive, isn't he?**_

Kurapika tried to step on the damn cat, and said cat leapt away and out of the window while laughing creepily, undoubtedly to catch up with her master/student. The Kuruta woman swore that one of these days she was going to serve the family certain cat-kebab.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ Another comedy chapter. How I love putting Kurapika into awkward situations (*me gutted by an angry PMS-ing behemoth of a Kuruta*) And I trolled you guys! Muhahaha Title is Justice but this has got nothing to do with justice. Well… Aside from the fact that Kuroro and Kurapika self-righteously passed their self-perceived justice against Cash and the guilty children. _

_Public announcement: Kuroro Lucifer does NOT appreciate his woman being groped by any other males…. Although he does that to Kurapika all the time, as Meta has testified. Which I must say that Kuroro doesn't do it in the public, but Meta has his own way to know things about his parents, what with his wonderfully useful daemons...Who are also good for sneak-peeking... Marvelously so. _

_Oh, and check out my profile page. I've posted new link on the fanart I did for Kuroro. It's ink profile of Kuroro, with certain art style that I've been experimenting on lately. _


	41. K is for Kremlin

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings. _

_**Author's note: **__'Kremlin' is Russian for 'fortress'. It indicates a group of buildings located within a fortification. Russian people, correct me if I'm wrong._

* * *

_ABC Series_

**_K is for Kremlin_**

* * *

"The Dark Continent?"

"Yep. I heard some obscure organizations are ganging up together to form an expedition team to explore the Dark Continent. President Netero is trying to sabotage them, though."

Kuroro gave a crooked smile. It always amused him when Kurapika didn't put any euphemism about everything and generally being brutally honest. She never bothered to be politically correct, although he knew _for sure _that behind all those carefree devil-may-care attitudes about politics, she could be really good at playing politics when the need arose. He also knew that she learned a lot about the arts of manipulation from _himself_, and so he couldn't help but to feel proud whenever she managed to manipulate someone to do her wishes—even if the person manipulate was _him _himself. In fact, that would make him even more proud; the proverbial student had proverbially surpassed the proverbial teacher, so to say.

But anyway, about the Dark Continent…

"Are you interested in it?"

"What?"

"The Dark Continent. Do you want to go there?"

Kurapika gave him a suspicious look, which amused him even more because she looked a bit like she was constipated. He did understand why the suspicion, though. He just knew the next question she was going to ask—

"You have been there, haven't you."

Yep. That one.

"Indeed." He said genially with a nod as he leaned back against his sofa chair, elbows on the armrest and fingers clasped together.

He almost snickered out loud when Kurapika's eyes shone brighter in sheer curiosity. Though she could be anal retentive most of the time, Kurapika could express a childish enthusiasm about new places and new experiences. It was refreshing to see her so excited, so liberated.

"In fact, YOU have been there, too."

She blinked.

"No." She replied with a what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about tone.

"You have. You just didn't know that it was part of the Dark Continent."

Kurapika frowned, and Kuroro could literally see the gears turning in her head as she tried to recall her past adventures and escapade around the world with him. Oh, those fine ol' days. He truly missed those days. Perhaps they should plan another getaway like that again. The children could take care of themselves now, and there were Fino and Nobunaga and Phinks who always volunteered to babysit the children. Nobunaga would sooner commit seppuku than to admit that he loved the four little critters to death, though.

"Ryuusei-gai?" Kurapika guessed.

"Close enough." Kuroro nodded in approval.

"The Temple?"

"The forest beyond the Temple." Kuroro corrected.

Kurapika's eyebrows furrowed even deeper and she tilted her head in incomprehension, and there was disbelief in her gait.

"The Forest is part of the Dark Continent?"

At her uncomprehending response, Kuroro raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you find it so hard to believe? The Forest is saturated with creatures that you don't find in the human continents here." Kuroro shrugged, amused that the fact escaped Kurapika's scrutiny. Perhaps she had forgotten about those monster-like creatures.

Kurapika's lips made an 'o' as she snapped her fingers in the typical I-got-it gesture. She indeed had forgotten that tiny little fact.

"You forgot about them."

"Sort of." She said sheepishly.

"Naturally." He grinned mockingly (playfully) at her, to which she responded with a swift kick to his leg—which she missed ("damn!"). "You don't exactly visit the Forest when you come to Ryuusei-gai."

"When I know that the Forest is crawling with your spidery critters? No way." She sneered at him. "So the Temple is literally the border between the Dark Continent and our human continent?"

"The Temple of Ryuusei-gai is the fortress of the dessert. An outpost, if you will."

"So there are other outposts?"

"Indeed. There is one for the sky, the underwater, the subterranean, the tropical jungle, and the tundra. There is one for each landscape."

"All in the form of temples as well?" Kurapika didn't even bother to conceal her curiosity.

"Not exactly, but you can tell that they are meant to be fortresses."

"So your job is to make sure that the creatures from the Dark Continent don't trespass into the human continent?"

"That is the job of the Master of the Temple of Ryuusei-gai, yes." Judging from Kuroro's expression, he obviously didn't like his job description. Poor guy, but Kurapika couldn't help but to inwardly gloat at his misery. How ironic that an S-rank criminal like him ended up relegated with the noble duty of protecting the human continent from onslaught from the Dark Continent.

"The Lady of the Lake seems to be doing the most at keeping the creatures in the Forest in check." Kurapika quipped, when she was done basking in the glory of his ironical misery.

"She volunteered for it, and eventually grew into the role. She took residence in the Forest in order to keep Ishtar company when Ishtar took up the role of the Mistress of the Temple."

"And you know this because…?" She doubted that he asked Ishtar about it.

"Hatsubaba talks too much." Kuroro shrugged. Kurapika laughed.

"I have always wondered, though... Is Bibi from the Dark Continent?" Kurapika tapped her chin in wonderment.

There was no more exasperation in Kurapika's voice when she spoke of the raptor that Sarai had adopted as family pet. She was beginning to like the raptor because she (Bibi was a she) was highly intelligent and understood human speech very much. Bibi actually could communicate appropriately with them using body language on her part. Kurapika wouldn't be surprised if one day the raptor started talking in human speech. The raptor also made for a very good steed, like Una and Bara were. In total, the family had four steeds: Bara, Una, Bibi, and Bast when she was in her gigantic form.

"Perhaps. I wouldn't be surprised if dinosaurs still live somewhere out there." Kuroro said casually.

Kurapika then looked like she just had an epiphany, and Kuroro waited in anticipation for her next question.

"Is Lucian and his kind from the Dark Continent, too?"

Kuroro paused and blinked at that.

"Actually…" He drawled with uncertainty. "I'm not sure. He might be."

Without further ado, Kuroro fished out his mobile phone seemingly out of nowhere and began dialling Lucian's number. When Kuroro Lucifer was curious, he was going to sate it immediately. Kurapika could only roll her eyes at his impatience and impulse. Before long, the call was picked up and the vampire's cheery voice rang from the phone.

**[Hey, Lucifer! Wassup?]**

"Are you from the Dark Continent?"

**[Say what?]**

"You heard me."

**[I know, but what? The Dark Continent? Where did that come from?]**

"Are you?"

**[Impatient bastard.]** The vampire muttered without malice. **[No, I'm 100% Wallachia resident. Now tell me why you start asking me about the Dark Continent. Did your little fiends escape there or what? If yes, I can't help you there, **_**frate**_** (brother). I'm not familiar with the place.]**

"Then was your sire from there?"

**[My sire? Pfft. That ancient buffoon has been sitting his ass on his throne here in Wallachia even before he was reborn. **_**Nu **_**(No). He's 100% local.]**

"What about his ancestors? The sires before him? The Solomonarii?"

**[The hell with all this questioning? We're playing 20 Questions or what? **_**Nu știu**_** (I don't know). They should have the record somewhere in the family library. Ain't gonna do the damn research for you, by the way. You want to find out, you come here and dissect the library for the information yourself. And so far as I know, the Solomonarii are humans so by right they shouldn't be from the Dark Continent. Now tell me why all these questions?]**

"Oh, just idle curiosity."

**[Idle curiosity my ass. What's your plan? You going there with Kurapika? Please don't bring the kids with you, **_**te implor **_**(I'm begging you). Goodness knows what kind of creatures from over there that they will adopt into the family pet because they WILL, everything else—you two included— be damned. One raptor, two unicorns, and a daemon cat are enough, I should think.]**

"A valid and fair point." Kuroro conceded as he mentally laughed at Kurapika's horrified expression. No doubt she was imagining the kind of monstrosity that the four children would insist on bringing back home to add to their collection of exotic pets. When she spotted Kuroro's conniving grin, she glared at him with all she had while pointing a sharp don't-you-dare finger at him.

**[In any case, **_**frate **_**(brother), I've got news for you.]**

"Oh? And what would that be?"

And thus they began conversing about some business that Kurapika felt did not concern her at all because it was about the Genei Ryodan and their missions. After all these years, she still tried to not get too much into their business. Woefully, her children didn't follow her example. In fact, they _loved _playing with those ruffians. Similarly, the Spiders enjoyed the company of the children and often times they behaved just as childish as the kids were. Kurapika didn't know whether to feel touched, freaked out, worried—or anything at all, for that matter—by the fact that the Spiders had taken so much to the children that it was as if those four little fiends were also _their _children. They took their time teaching the children all they could, passing down skills and techniques that Kurapika thought was supposed to be their secrets. She had to grudgingly admit that those skills could come in handy, but she still wondered… Why were the Spiders so dedicated to the children? She asked Kuroro about it once, and the man would only give her an indolently complaisant smile and nothing else.

But speaking of the children…

Strange. She hadn't heard a peep from those infernal spawns of Lucifer (pun intended), and _that _was highly suspicious. The only time when they were this quiet at home was either when they were planning some sort of diabolical pranks, or when they were sick like dying cows on painkillers. Kurapika then began to wonder. Ignoring Kuroro's questioning glance, Kurapika expanded her _En_ and tried to track down the children. To her escalating suspicion, their presence was absent from the house. Even when they were in _In _state, they were supposed to still be detectable with _En_. Kurapika then expanded her _En _even further, until she did manage to catch signals on the edge of her _En _radius. The presences slipped from her _En _almost as soon as they touched it, but Kurapika managed to get a good feeling on those Nen signatures.

Her analysis was as such: Sarai and Noah were riding Bibi, while Bia and Meta were on Bast's back. They were running at top speed towards the general direction of their Backyard Forest, which was strange because they never rode their steeds when entering the forest. Unless…

"No…" Kurapika started with horror.

She noticed it. The kids. They had fully-loaded backpacks on, judging from their body postures. The Backyard Forest could be a shortcut off the mountain when you jump off the cliff at the edge of the forest.

"No no no—" She began clawing at her face, before she ran out of the room in a flurry of movement and curses.

**[**_**Ce se întâmplă**_**? (What's going on)]**

"Well…"

**[**_**Așteaptă, nu răspunde**_** (Wait, don't answer). Lemme guess: your **_**micii monstri **_**(little monsters) overheard your conversation and they have decided to hightail it and off to the Dark Continent without your permission?]**

"Succinctly summarised." The Spider Head chuckled.

**[Typical day in your house.]** Kuroro could just imagine Lucian shrugging at the comment. **[You really should discipline them more.]**

"Indeed. They could have done a better job at sneaking out under Kurapika's radar."

**[Dude, that is so NOT my point.]**

Before Kuroro could make another witty remark just to annoy the hell out of Lucian, Kurapika had reappeared into the room with a ready backpack—nostalgically from their adventure time so long ago—and travelling coat for each of them. She was already dressed in her travelling attire. Her face was flushed, and there was a glint in her eyes.

"We are going after them."

"Kurapika..." Kuroro started as he rose from his seat gracefully.

"I am not backing down. We are going after them." Kurapika interrupted curtly, hands on her hips.

"I know. What I was going to say is…" He dramatically put a hand on her shoulder, and he could see her eye twitching in mild irritation.

Lucian, meanwhile, had decided that he was just going to hang up because obviously he was being ignored by Kuroro in favour of messing with Kurapika.

"…You just want an excuse to go to the Dark Continent yourself, don't you?"

Kurapika's face flushed even more and she started stammering out justifications and denials. Kuroro simply flashed her a boyish grin and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, before grabbing his backpack and travelling coat, and dragged her towards the door by her wrist. Lucky he was still in his outdoor attire. After all, he just came back home from a trip done per Abelard Constantin's request.

"Well, come on then."

Perfect. He was getting his wish of going on adventure with her again; bless the children and their errant behaviour. He just hoped that the children would have the foresight to take the unicorns with them so that Kurapika couldn't catch up with them.

To his glee, they did.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ Yet another comedy. I just can't help it =P I firmly believe that no matter how old Kuroro gets, he will always have that adventurous, mischievous boyish side in him—which will inevitably always try to drag Kurapika into the mess. I simply fell in love with the word 'kremlin', and was determined to make a chapter out of it. I suppose the summary of this chapter is about Ryuusei-gai and this wacko family as one of the fortress guarding the human continent from the Dark Continent (which is a real canon place in the series, as you will know if you have read until the latest chapter of HunterxHunter). And Lucian just had to make a cameo here. _


	42. L is for Lunatics

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings._

* * *

_ABC Series_

**_L is for Lunatics_**

* * *

The Major was a happy man. The mountain was thriving, the animals living in it were thriving, and therefore hunting had been good. The townspeople were happy, nobody was being a bum, everyone had enough food. The children were running around the town, playing and laughing to their hearts' content. Nobody was miserable, nobody was sad.

He was so happy that he decided to greet everyone he met on the streets and to visit every house in the town. He was now on his way to the Prancing Pony Inn, as the establishment was rather near the outskirt of the town—although strictly speaking it was not the The House on The Outskirt. No, that title belonged to another house; which the Major was sure to visit as well.

With springs in his feet and lips pursed for a whistle, the Major strolled down the street in the direction of the inn/bistro/café. The Major didn't really go to the inn often; not because he hated the place, but more because he enjoyed the presence and cooking of his wife at home more. There was no point of him going to the inn, really. He didn't exactly participate in the rumour mill that was going on there either; because he had his own sources.

The inn had just come into his view when he spotted the current owner of the inn stepping out of the front door.

"Fino!" The Major called out happily.

The said young woman turned around, and her face beamed when she saw the Major approaching.

"Major! How are you? How unusual to see you here. Do you need something?" Fino turned to fully face the Major respectfully.

"No, no. I'm just walking around visiting people. How are you and your family?"

"We're good. Mom and Dad are inside talking with the guests, and Shalnark is running errands for them." She answered sweetly.

The Major nodded. Fino's young husband was an interesting new addition to the town, and many people were curious about him. He was very amicable and polite, and so baby-faced—a quality that many young girls in town were jealous of. However, for all his niceness and easy-going-ness, the Major knew that he was a dangerous man. Some townspeople remembered the day years ago when some shady-looking guys in black suit stormed the inn and took the family hostage in attempt to blackmail Kurapika, that crazy woman. They still remembered how they had tried to prevent Shalnark from coming to the rescue, but the young man would have none of that. He had simply stormed in and killed all those people single-handedly. When asked why he did that, the young man simply answered innocently:

"_They weren't treating Fino nicely."_

"How's your little angel?" The Major asked while looking around. "She's usually hanging around you."

"Oh, Sherry is at Kurapika's place." Fino laughed. "In fact, I'm just about to go there to see how they are doing and bring this snack over for the kids there."

The Major looked down at the basket that Fino was holding. He hadn't noticed it before, but the basket actually looked pretty big. Well, considering that Kurapika's four children and Fino's daughter probably would spend their waking hours playing nonstop, the Major wouldn't be surprised if those kids inhaled these snacks in a matter of minutes.

"Well, would you mind if I come along? I haven't seen her and her family in ages."

"Oh, sure. Come along! Kurapika would be surprised to see you." Fino giggled, and turned to lead the way.

They spent the entire walk chatting about little topics like the weather, the market, the trade business, etc. Fino told the Major of the few travellers that managed to find the inn, about their stories and any other interesting things they might have told her.

"Come to think of it, I don't really see Kurapika's husband around the town often." The Major suddenly said as he scratched his bearded chin.

"Kuroro? Well, I suppose he doesn't really go out to the house once he's in town." Fino tilted her head slightly as she thought of the occasions when Kuroro actually did go out of the house. Most of the times, he just went to her inn.

"He's out of the town most of the time?" The Major asked, quite curious about that handsome young man whom he hardly seen. Ever.

"Yes. His job requires him to go to many places, much like Kurapika's Hunter duties." Fino said, and quickly added: "I'm not too sure what his job is, though."

Well, she couldn't very well tell him that one of his jobs is being a S-rank criminal group leader, could she?

"Is he a Hunter too, then?"

"Nope. He's not interested at all in it." Fino shrugged. She knew Kuroro was probably overqualified for the exam, though.

"Hmmm… Very curious." The Major continued scratching his chin. "I should like to talk with this young man sometimes."

"You'll like him, Major. He's very knowledgeable! His stories are so interesting." Fino smiled even wider. Kuroro could be such a good storyteller when he felt like it.

"I haven't talked with Kurapika for a long time, too. Maybe I should talk with the two of them."

"Err…" Fino faltered at the notion. Individually, they would make fine conversation partner. However, when put together, they tended to go after each other in the conversation-turned-argument; leaving the third-party either flustered (for the first-timer), or exasperated (for experienced ones like Lucian), or entertained (for weird ones like Fino).

Fino was about to voice her opinion; having the good intention of giving the Major a fair warning, when a soft meow distracted her. She looked around, and immediately noticed a pair of golden eyes staring at her inquisitively.

"Bast?" She inquired. It wasn't often that the cat would stray from her 'master'.

The said black cat turned her attention to the Major once she made eye contact with Fino. Bast tilted her head as she scrutinized the Major and then turned back to Fino, giving her a who-is-he look.

"What a beautiful feline!" The Major enthused when he spotted Bast. "You know her?"

"Yes. She's Meta's cat, _Major_." Fino said, emphasising on the 'major' part slightly to answer Bast's unspoken question.

Fino saw the cat nodding her head, as if confirming that yes she heard her. It felt strange to communicate with the cat non-verbally. Fino knew that Bast was a supernatural cat, and that she could talk. However, she also knew the rule that the cat wasn't supposed to speak in the presence of 'outsiders'; meaning those people who didn't know about Meta's Nen.

"She's gorgeous!" The Major; obviously a feline-lover, approached Bast while holding out a hand.

Bast didn't even deign to sniff his hand, and merely turned up her uppity little nose and stalked away towards the direction of Kurapika's house. Fino could just roll her eyes. She just hoped the feline would alert Kurapika about the Major's arrival and would keep the unicorns and the raptor out of sight.

"And so arrogant, too." The Major laughed, not minding Bast's rudeness. "Meta is a lucky fellow. Where did he get her?"

"I think the cat adopted him, not the other way round." Fino giggled.

"Oh?" The Major laughed more. "I see, I see. She's such a lady."

Fino grinned, and they continued walking. Not long after, they started to hear noises from the direction of Kurapika's house. Fino could recognise the noise for what it really was because she had heard it many times before, but the Major obviously knew nothing.

"What's that? What's happening? Is there a fight?" The Major asked, immediately alert. The fact that the ground shook slightly at some points didn't help to ease the poor old man's anxiety.

"Relax, Major. This is normal."

The Major could only blink and threw Fino a quizzical look while following her from behind, unsure of what was going on. The next thing that the Major did the moment they rounded up the corner was something that he would never ever forget for the rest of his life.

Just in front of the house, four children were ganging up on one Kuroro Lucifer. They were making good use of their Nen, although the presence of their oh-so-strict mother on the side-line kept them from unleashing the full extent of Meta's and Bia's Nen (which would probably level half of the town in record time, when they were unleashed at the same time).

To the Major's untrained eyes, there were sparks flying around the fight arena, especially around that creepy white-haired girl with icy green eyes. Those weird sparks were, even more creepily enough, seemed to be remotely controlled—and were aimed at scary places like, say…Kuroro's eyes. Kuroro always managed to evade them by a hair's breadth; only because he was too lazy to evade them earlier. Meta seemed to be the most experienced about fight, and was the most practical hand-on-hand fighter of the children. Since the Major obviously knew absolutely nothing about fighting, he didn't know that Meta's role was actually not the main offensive, but as a distraction. The main offensive were actually the twins; although the creepy mini-Kuroro was more on the stealth department while crazy little girl was more head-on. The mini-Kuroro boy always tried to get on Kuroro's blind spot and behind him, while the crazy little girl would throw seemingly endless number of throwing daggers at his own father.

The thing was the children weren't the only ones doing the attacking. Kuroro did his share of counterattacks as well, throwing his kids around like rag dolls towards the cold hard ground or the sturdy trees around the area. He did make sure to limit the collateral damage, though. He would hear no end of it from Kurapika if the house suffered even as much as a scratch from their roughhousing. In fact, she would probably chew his ears off; both literally and figuratively.

The Major could only gape as Fino; who had forgotten all about the poor old man in her excitement, ran towards Kurapika; who was standing off the side of the fight arena.

"Kurapika!" Fino waved her free hand towards said female, and rushed to her side.

"Hey, Fino." Kurapika gave a nod towards Fino without taking her eyes off the fight before her.

"What's going on?" She asked innocently as she began observing the fight, too.

"Kuroro felt like playing." She deadpanned with a roll of her eyes.

"This is playing? I thought this is training." Fino tilted her head sideways cutely.

"This is Kuroro's definition of playing." Kurapika snorted. "And anyway, Kuroro always trains the children all the time in whatever he does with them."

"Yeah? Then…" Fino scratched her chin. "Why is Sherry included there?"

True. If the fight itself wasn't bad enough, Kuroro Lucifer had only one arm and two legs to fend off the children's relentless attacks. Why?

Because one of his arms was occupied with one squealing toddler.

A toddler with green eyes and dusty blonde hair, and a blazing cheery smile that told everyone that she had no care of the world except for the current excitement.

"Fino! This is INSANE! They have Sherry there! What's going on?!" The Major; who recovered to his senses once he noticed Sherry being carried like a treasure chest in Kuroro's arm, ran screaming towards the women with his skinny arms flailing about.

"Well…" Fino glanced to Kurapika for answer.

"Kuroro is training the children—"

"But Sherry! She is just a baby! Why is she there? She can't even do anything!" The Major squealed frantically like a pig to the slaughterhouse.

"—and the objective of this training is for the children to get Sherry from Kuroro without a scratch on her. It is much more difficult to procure a precious cargo from the opponent without the slightest harm on it—"

"WHAT! Why are you insane people treating her like some object?! She is a _baby_!" The Major's face was flushed like a tomato, half incensed half horrified at seeing the little girl in the middle of such Ground Zero.

"—the children have yet to have fine control over their coordinates. Even now, they are still a tad disorganized and rather haphazard."

"_Disorganized?!_" The Major looked like he was going to faint. If those kids' movements were disorganized, he hated to imagine how it would be like when they were perfectly organized.

"Kuroro will make sure nothing happen to her and I have means to completely heal her—leaving NO scratch on her—should anything happen in the worst case scenario." Fino could hear the annoyance creeping to Kurapika's tone. Kurapika didn't tell the Major about her Healing Chain because the Major wouldn't understand and she just couldn't be bothered to enlighten him about Nen.

"B, but—!"

"Major, it's okay. I trust Kurapika and Kuroro." Fino put placating hands on the old man's shaking shoulders. "Besides, Sherry is enjoying herself there."

The Major looked forlornly at the fight going on. It was true, though. Sherry looked like she was having the time of her life. She didn't look like she was injured in any way, too. In fact, the Major was pretty sure that the girl would start spouting nonsense like "again, again!" once the fight was done.

"This is going to take a very long time." Kurapika finally averted her eyes from the fight. "Do you need anything in particular, Major?"

The Major could only sigh tiredly.

"I came here only to see how you are doing. I can see you are doing more than fine, though."

Kurapika smiled at him.

"Would you like to come in and have a tea?" She asked him politely.

"Well…"

"I've got snacks!" Fino said enthusiastically with a smirk while holding up the basket she was carrying.

Kurapika grinned.

"Come on inside, then." She said with a nod of her head towards her house.

They had only taken several steps towards the house when the commotion increased behind them.

"Snacks!"

"Can we take a break now, Papa? Please?"

"No."

"Why?!"

"Sherry is still with me."

"Again, again! More, more! Weeeee!"

"But Dad!"

"You have five minutes to complete this session. Otherwise, no snacks for the rest of the day."

"Eek!"

"Gah! Let's go, guys!"

"Right! For the snacks!"

Kurapika simply rolled her eyes, and Fino giggled. The poor Major looked like he was going to get heart palpitations. He couldn't believe this! He had thought that Kurapika was such a decent woman and her husband such a reserved gentleman. He never thought they could be so brutal in their upbringing of their children! They weren't raising kids! They were raising monsters!

They were a bunch of lunatics! How did he end up with a family full of lunatics in his town?! Gosh!

It took Fino hours of convincing that the family was not going to bring an early Armageddon on the town. Similarly, it took Kurapika more hours than Fino to convince the Major that she and Kuroro were not abusing the children.

It took the children slightly less hours to convince the Major that they weren't abused by their parents and that they loved them very _very _much. It took a full body inspection on Sherry to convince the Major that she wasn't injured _at all_—not even a scratch.

It took Kuroro three minutes of conversation to get the Major to like him.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ I think that it's about time to give Fino some screen time, as well as some introduction for her daughter Sherry. As you should realise by the brief description, she's basically a mini Shalnark. However, she is more like Fino in terms of her talent and affinity towards the olfactory senses. Poor Major didn't understand the dynamics of the family, and how such 'brutality' was the norm there._

_And of course, Kuroro's ability to win people over never failed him. _


	43. M is for Madness

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings._

* * *

_ABC Series_

**_M is for Madness_**

* * *

By the time he reached town, the place had been consumed by the darkness of night and the quietness of dreamland. As the town drifted into sleepiness, he walked through the empty streets towards the outskirt of the town, where his home was. He passed the Prancing Pony Inn, briefly throwing a glance to the windows on the upper floors. They were all curtained and dark. He continued his walk unperturbed.

When he reached the small house he called home, he slipped into the building like the master thief he was; silent and undetected. Without any noise, he climbed up the staircase and headed towards one of the many bedrooms. Very carefully—almost delicately—he opened the door soundlessly and drifted into the room. He ghosted across the room silently, stopping just as he stood next to the bed of the twins.

Sarai was all over Noah as they slept, hugging him like a bolster with her hair all over the place like an explosion. Her arms were around his chest, while one of her legs was over his stomach. Noah, meanwhile, had his head tilted slightly towards his sister's head, almost as if he was resting his head against the crown of her head.

They were both blissfully unaware of being observed by their father, therefore unaware of the slight twitching of his fingers.

"Kuroro?"

He blinked. He didn't know how long he had been standing there like a gargoyle, his eyes fixated on the twins, until he heard that soft voice. The voice sounded unsure, almost uncertain. Wary.

He turned around to face her. He didn't miss the slight widening of her eyes, the slight dilation of her pupils that somehow he managed to catch even in the darkness of the room. He didn't miss the slight tensing of her shoulders, the miniscule tightening of her jaws. He didn't know how he managed to spot all those tiny little details that would have been lost in the darkness, but he just did.

"Kuroro?"

He was broken from his reverie, and refocused his eyes only to see her standing a few inches from him. One of her hand was hovering near his cheek while the other was hovering near his arm, as if afraid to touch him.

"What's wrong?"

She didn't ask whether he was okay or not. She knew he wasn't okay.

He leaned to her touch, resting his cold cheek on her warm little palm. He then felt her other hand coming to a rest on his forearm, squeezing gently as if for reassurance. He wondered whether it was reassurance for him or for herself.

"Why did you ask?" He asked in a whisper. He was curious.

She bit her lower lip; a habit that resurfaced whenever she was unsure and nervous. Why was she nervous?

"You feel…different. What's wrong?" There was urgency in her voice this time.

He observed her. Her eyes darted between his left and right eye, showing her uneasiness at being scrutinised by him. His right eye tingled, and he could see nothing else but worry in her. Anxiety. Fear. What was she afraid of?

He narrowed his eyes. Her eyes widened and her shoulders tensed; wary and anxious.

He raised his right hand, she didn't move. He rested his hand around her slim neck, she tried hard not to swallow.

And he _squeezed._

* * *

In the ungodly hour of the night, she felt a presence entering her abode. Even in her half-asleep state, she could immediately tell that the Nen signature belonged to him. She relaxed and was about to sink back into slumber when something threw her mind off. She snapped open her eyes and sat up abruptly.

She concentrated her mind towards his Nen, trying to decipher what was off. It was unmistakably his, but there was something…wrong. Like his Nen wasn't stable. He was in the twins' bedroom. She thought that he was checking on the children before going to bed, before going to her. She would have to ask him what was wrong, but she would wait until he finished checking up on the children.

Only that he wasn't moving from the twins' room.

Kurapika was worried.

She got off the bed and hurried out of the room. Silently she padded across the corridor towards the twins' bedroom, and found the door slightly ajar. She pushed it open slightly more, and peeked into the room. She was greeted with the sight of him hovering next to the twins' bed, his head ducked down as he observed them.

She missed the slight twitching of his fingers.

"Kuroro?" She asked tentatively after a while. Something was unnatural about him, and it was bothering her.

His head snapped up, as if she had broken him out of some sort of a trance. She never caught him off guard like that before. Something was definitely off. He turned around to face her, and Kurapika stopped breathing.

Bright. His eyes. They were _bright, _unnaturally so. His usually abysmal black eyes—eyes that seemed to absorb everything—were bright, as if glowing. They were still black, but somehow they were simply bright.

Kurapika fought the urge to attack the man standing so near her children. For a moment, she wasn't seeing Kuroro Lucifer standing there. For a moment, she was seeing a stranger there. Even the way he looked at her seemed unnatural. She felt cornered, like a small animal being preyed by a predator. She suppressed a shudder, and willed her leg muscles to move her across the room. It was even harder to will her hand to reach out to him; one to his cheek and the other to his arm. In the end, she couldn't even touch him. Her hands simply hovered.

"Kuroro?" She asked again, willing her voice to be steady and not betraying her wariness. Her fear.

He blinked, and his eyes refocused on her. She fought the urge to cringe. He hadn't focused, his mind wasn't here. He was unstable.

"What's wrong?" She asked, hating the way she sounded almost timid. Afraid.

To her small relief, he leaned to her touch. He even seemed eager for the contact, his eyes softening slightly as her other hand gently squeezed his forearm. He would okay. He had to be okay. She needed him to be okay at the end.

The brightness of his eyes still frightened her, though.

"Why did you ask?"

Kurapika bit her lips. She wished he would just answer her question and stopped being so damn difficult, but this time it was his voice that disturbed her more. He sounded like he knew something was wrong with him and was trying to hide it, and therefore was curious on how she found out about it. She didn't like it. It made her feel unsafe.

"You feel…different." That was the only answer she could give him as of now. "What's wrong?"

She needed to know. She had never seen Kuroro behaving so strange like this before. He was a strange enigmatic man by nature, but not like this. This was creepy. This was unnerving. This was not _him_.

Then he started scrutinizing her; studying her and almost contemplative about it. It _scared _her, the way he looked at her. Many many years ago, when they were younger and were still mortal enemies, he had looked at her with the calculative, mocking gaze of a cold-hearted criminal. He had a contemplative look on him, as if weighing her worth. She had hated it, the way he made her feel small and boiling mad at the same time. But she hadn't been scared. Not to this extent.

He then narrowed his eyes, and this time Kurapika fought the urge to flee. Her muscles twitched almost uncontrollably, her instinct wanting nothing more than to snatch her children and run for the hills. Away from this…_thing_ that was in the form of her man.

But she knew that this was him. This was Kuroro Lucifer, her 'husband' and the father of her children. This was no impostor.

She saw him raising his right hand, and Kurapika fought the urge to back away. When he wrapped his cold fingers around her neck, she fought the urge to retaliate.

But then he _squeezed._

At first it was gentle, and Kurapika hoped that he was just playing. But she knew that she was just kidding herself. His eyes were unfocused, dilated and _bright_. He was not _himself. _His mind was lost somewhere out there.

In a display of faith, Kurapika did not to retaliate. She wanted to believe in him. Whatever was happening to him, _possessing _him, she wanted to believe that he would snap out of it himself. That his self-control was greater. That he would recognise _her_.

He squeezed harder and harder, his eyes becoming brighter and brighter that it almost hurt her eyes. She averted her eyes, and they landed on the twins. They were still sleeping, blissfully unaware of the horror taking place just by their bed.

She wanted to cry.

His grip had become so painful that she could feel her face turning blue. Her throat and neck muscles started to spasm so violently that she couldn't help but to choke out a strangled cry.

_That_ seemed to break him out of the spell, as he blinked several times and his grip loosened up enough for her to tear herself away from him. She didn't want to flee from him, but she couldn't rein in her instinct anymore. She coughed and wheezed as loud as she dared without waking up the children. She had collapsed to the wooden floor, thankful that she was barefooted and that the children were deep-sleepers. She didn't want them to see their father assaulting their mother.

Her vision was filled with black dots, and everything seemed to be swimming. Her head pounded, and she felt nauseous. If she was any lesser human being, her neck would have shattered much earlier. She fought to retain her consciousness, but failed.

The last thing she felt before succumbing to the darkness was a pair of tremulous arms lifting her off the floor and spiriting her away from the children's room. She let out a grateful sigh before plunging into oblivion.

* * *

_Tired…sore…for how long more…humans…so weak…so fragile…_

_The boy…the young master….so small….so frail…weak…_

_So much like the late mistress…the hair…the eyes…the skin…_

_The late mistress…mother…love…dead…scorned…you killed…ungrateful…undeserving happiness…_

_She died….dead…gone…life extinguished…so fleeting…transient…death…inevitable…._

_No…death…escapable…immortality…forever…_

_No more separation…no more goodbye…together forever…no more tears…no more sadness…no more death….forever…._

_Wish…make a wish…master…wish…we grant…anything…_

_Makeawish….master…anything…wish…_

_Mastermakeawishmakeawishnow…_

_MastermakeawishnownowMAKEAWISHNOWMASTERAWISH__**AWISHMAKEAWISHMASTER—**_

"Kuroro?"

_Woman…wife…love…_

_Loyal...faithful…undaunted…_

"What's wrong?"

_Love…worried…concerned…_

"You feel…different. What's wrong?"

_Knowing…She knows…always…_

_Always…with you…stay…forever…loyal…faithful…stay…forever…alway s…_

…_really?..._

"Kuroro?"

_So small…so frail…fragile…the bones…neck…small…_

_Easily snapped…like a twig…really…_

_So fragile…so human…mortal…_

_Try…see it…test it…you'll see…_

_Human weakness…mortality…her mortality…her weakness…_

_Mortality…death…dying...immortality…_

_Wish…live…forever…master…wish…we grant…_

_A wish…master…make a wish…our command…_

_Mastermakeawish….yourwishourcommandwegrant…_

_Awishmastermakeawishyourwishisourcommandwegrantyou rwithanythingyouwishanythingMASTERMAKEAWISHWEGRANT ANYTHINGIMMORTALITYLIVEFOREVERNODEATH__**IMMORTALITYMAKEAWISHMASTERLIMMORTALITYFORYOUMAKEAW ISHMASTERFORHER—**_

* * *

She woke up in his arms. They were shaking, his whole body was shaking, uncontrollably so. The crown of her head felt wet. He had been crying.

With hazy eyes she looked around the room. Their bedroom. He had fled to their bedroom, away from the children. Good. His grip around her was tight, but there was gentleness to it. Yet he held her like she was a broken glass. Scared and tentative. It almost brought a smile to her lips.

Her eyes caught something lying on the floor across the room. She narrowed her eyes, and caught its silhouette. A ring.

She then understood. The madness. The evil. It was the Solomon Ring. It was the demons. It was their whispers, clawing at his mind. Eroding his sanity. He had warned her before, warned her of the danger of a mortal holding the Solomon Ring. Of the empty promises they whispered to the master. Of the corruption. Of the power bestowed on the bearer of the ring in exchange of their sanity.

He whimpered and buried his face to the crook of her neck. Her sore neck. She could feel the bruises there, the finger-shaped stripes of blue black purple and green. She would have to wear turtle-neck tomorrow. She just hoped the weather wouldn't be hot.

She threw a tearful glare at the ring lying on the floor, wishing that it would just combust and melt into nothingness. No doubt he had thrown it across the room in his rage and, dare she say it, _fear_. No doubt he had wished he wasn't the master of the damn thing. For Kuroro Lucifer, losing his sanity and his self-identity was worse than death.

What she didn't know that he was more deathly afraid of the fact that he had almost killed _her…_

And that the next victim of the Solomon Ring had been chosen.

* * *

That night, Noah lay awake in the bed he shared with his twin sister. She was sleeping herself to oblivion, unaware of the evil permeating their room, unheeding of the whispers that lingered in the air.

He wondered what those whispers were, and whose they were.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ Kuroro's sanity was threatened by the Solomon Ring, Kurapika displayed her faith in Kuroro, and Noah started hearing the whispers of the demons of the Solomon Ring. _

_Some readers requested for angsty chapter for Kurapika and Kuroro. So here ya go. I'm not sure whether to categorise this chapter as angsty or plain creepy, though. Remember the chapter "I for Inheritance"? In that chapter, Noah wondered how his father could keep his sanity intact with the whispers of the Solomon Ring clawing at the edge of their mind. The fact is he didn't. His sanity is slipping, but he s good at hiding it. Scary, isn't it? That's why Kuroro brought Noah to The Lady of the Lake. But why would he be in such a hurry to bind Noah as the next Master of the Solomon Ring, knowing that becoming its master would erode his sanity? Perhaps that was part of his insanity, masked by a perceived sense of duty and responsibility. _

…_Gee, I'm the author and I'm afraid for Kuroro…_

_And did you notice that I kept repeating how Kuroro's fingers kept twitching slightly? That was cue for you readers that he wasn't entirely sane. Hands up for those who noticed!_


	44. N is for Number

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings._

* * *

_ABC Series_

**_N is for Number_**

* * *

"Uncle Franklin?"

"Yes, Meta?"

"What do the numbers mean?"

Franklin stopped weaving the flower stems and tilted his head slightly to peer at the boy sitting on his right side and making his own flower crown. They were both sitting under the great tree by the side of a flower field, seeking refuge from the heat of the day. Sleeping on the soft grass next to Franklin with a book in hand was Noah, having been claimed many minutes ago by the drowsiness induced by the summer heat. Frolicking among the flowers were the girls, picking out the best flowers to be delivered to Franklin and Meta as they created many different accessories made out of flowers.

This was a request from Fino, because the annual Festival of Flowers was coming soon. The children were usually the ones making the flower accessories, but Meta tended to hunt down the Spiders and made them help him with the job. Needless to say, certain members of the Genei Ryodan made sure they were busy and available during this time of the year. Of course, they always turned up for the free food and booze during the festival itself, and Meta always get payback at them for 'running away'.

"Numbers?"

"You know. Like the ones that you and Uncle Nobu and Uncle Phinx and Machi and Shalnark have?"

Meta had never gotten out of calling some of the Spiders as uncles; which Danchou found immensely amusing. Franklin never complained; in fact, he was quite content to have a nephew to spoil and mentor. This was the closest he could ever get for a child and family. Nobu and Phinx used to file complaints to Danchou about it all the time, but now they never made a pipe about it. Franklin assumed that they just simply grew into the role.

"They have no meaning." Franklin answered with gentle voice.

"Really?" Meta looked up from his flowers to peer at Franklin, curious and inquisitive.

"They don't reflect rankings in terms of strength or abilities, if that's what you're asking me." Franklin began explaining.

Franklin then recalled the boy's mother firing the same line of questioning to Danchou once upon a time, and he quite recalled Danchou's answers and the Kuruta's subsequent reactions. Suffice to say that the dynamics between Danchou and the chain-user never failed to amuse Franklin.

"The numbers are simply units to indicate attendance and membership positions." The giant continued. "They don't reflect the sequence in which they joined the group either."

"Oh…" Meta's eyes dropped back to his flowers, and he continued working wordlessly for a few more minutes.

Franklin knew that the boy still had questions, but he wouldn't prompt him. He'd go with the boy's pace, as the boy would ask when he was ready.

"Uncle Franklin?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think we'll get the numbers, too?"

Franklin blinked and turned to look quizzically at the boy.

"We?"

"Me and Bia. And Noah and Sarai."

Honestly, Franklin had NO idea. Danchou had once expressed his desire to have at least Meta or Bia to join the Genei Ryodan. Franklin knew by general consent that the Spiders were keen on having those two as members. Danchou didn't seem keen on adding Sarai into their ranks, though. If he was to make an educated guess, Franklin would say that Sarai's role was to purely oversee the continuation of the Kuruta line. Besides, the Spiders would probably too busy babysitting her to work properly. Meanwhile, Danchou had vaguely hinted that Noah already had a position to fill, or that at least he would be busy taking care of _something_ in the future; which kinda saddened Franklin because no children like Noah should have a responsibility already waiting for him so early in life.

"I don't know, Meta." The Spider answered honestly. "But if your mother has any say in it, no."

"What? Why?" Meta all but _whined_.

"She doesn't like the Spiders, as you should know by now." Franklin said, amused and curious.

"I call bull—"

"_Meta._" Franklin interrupted sharply, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly. He had explicit order from Danchou to make sure Meta watched his language. Nobunaga, Phinx, and Feitan were such stellar examples for the boy.

"—sh_isbelief_ (disbelief) on that!"

Still, Franklin raised a questioning eyebrow. Why couldn't the boy believe that his mother detest the Spiders?

"Because she talks with Shalnark all the time! And Heen, too! And most of all, well she's married to Dad with four kids, and Dad is the leader!"

Franklin couldn't help but to grin at the last statement.

"They are exception, Meta. Your mother has had dealings with Heen before he joined the Spiders. As for Shalnark, because he's married to Fino and she has known him on personal level and on daily basis. As for your father… Well..." Franklin scratched his head. "Can't say that I—or anyone in the Genei Ryodan, for that matter—saw _that_ coming."

"Was it that bad? Mom and Dad, before?" Meta asked with a grimace. The kid was empathic, and Franklin was pretty sure that he had heard plenty of stories.

"Oh, they were after each other's throat all the time. Actually, it was mostly your mother trying to do the deed most of the time. Your father simply tolerated her because he found her amusing. I heard your father never got bored when in your mother's company." Franklin shrugged, and gently put the flower crown he had just finished into the pile.

"Hmmm…" Meta tilted his head cutely. "Well, I can imagine Mom going ballistic on Dad. I mean, that happened a few times before."

Franklin just had to laugh at that.

"You have no idea, lad. You haven't seen the _real _thing."

"I wish I could see it." The boy pouted as he finished up his flower crown.

Franklin simply chuckled at that, and proceeded to make another flower decoration. This time, he was making a flower cape. They continued working in comfortable silence, with the girl's laughter ringing across the field.

"You know, Meta." Franklin suddenly said, breaking the silence.

"Hm?"

"Us, the original members of Genei Ryodan," Franklin said with gentle, almost sad voice, "we didn't take up this line of work because we wanted to. It was out of necessity."

Meta looked up from his new project and stared at his gentle uncle with curious eyes. He could feel that Uncle Franklin had something serious to tell him, and that he needed to hear this with undivided attention.

After a while, Franklin stopped weaving the flowers and turned to look at the boy. He then lifted a hand and gently placed it on the boy's golden crown of hair

"You have no such need." Franklin said while patting Meta on the head. "You don't need to be like us in order to survive."

"But…"

"You have everything that we didn't have, Meta. Be grateful about it. It's bad enough that there's a chance that somebody might discover you as a Kuruta and start hunting you and your siblings down for your Scarlet Eyes, like what we did to your mother's people. There is no need to take up felony and has a bounty put on your head."

"But Uncle Franklin…"

"Hm?"

"My Scarlet Eyes are Mom's legacy."

"Indeed they are. They are a beautiful legacy." Franklin said while nodding.

"But for me, Dad's legacy is you guys. The Genei Ryodan." The boy murmured while fidgeting with his fingers. "It's not fair if I just…continue…with Mom's legacy without considering Dad's."

To say that Franklin was surprised was an understatement. He didn't know that Meta was that insightful, that he admired his father that much. He had expected some kind of distance between Meta and Danchou because of Danchou's absence on the boy's first four formative years of life. He also had expected the boy to be somewhat ashamed that his father was a criminal.

But then, perhaps this admiration and acceptance was to be expected. When Meta first came to know his father, the boy was introduced to Danchou _and_ the Genei Ryodan. It probably felt like his father came in a package with the whole gang. For Meta, it probably felt like the Genei Ryodan was an aspect that defined his father's identity; which wasn't far from true. In fact, that was probably the essential. In a way, perhaps Kurapika's reluctant acceptance of the Spiders in her home and around her family was also because she had acknowledged the Spiders as an essence of Kuroro Lucifer. Without the Genei Ryodan, Kuroro Lucifer wasn't Kuroro Lucifer.

"That's nice of you." Franklin smiled the boy proudly. "Your father would be happy when he hears that."

"You think so?" The boy's face lit up.

"I'm sure of it." Franklin nodded.

Danchou might not be forthcoming with his affections for the children when in the public, but Franklin had seen how he would kneel down and open his arms to welcome the highly-excitable children as they rushed to over-enthusiastically smother him with affectionate greetings when he came back home from missions. He knew of Danchou's devotion to their education and trainings, and general well-being.

"And Meta?"

"Yeah?"

"Make sure you tell your father what you just told me, yes? About his legacy?"

"Alright!" The boy gave him a toothy grin, before he turned back to work diligently.

Franklin observed the boy for a while longer, a rather disturbed expression on his face. What he wanted to tell the boy wasn't about the legacy. He was about to tell him that if he was ever getting a number, it was probably going to be number 1. However, Franklin caught himself on the last minute and said something else harmless. He couldn't tell the boy that. He couldn't. Not when the rule of the group was that a new member could only join by filling the vacant position, or by killing the existing members to take over the number. The very thought of Meta attempting to kill any of the members was disturbing enough, but the image of Meta getting the number 1… It would be either that Danchou had met his untimely demise, or Meta had killed him…

Suddenly, Franklin wished the boy and his siblings would never be members of the Genei Ryodan.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ Meta expressed his desire to join the Spiders, Franklin enjoying himself with art projects involving flowers, and Franklin discovering the other side of the coin (of Meta and his siblings joining the Spiders). _

_I simply think that Franklin making flowers crowns and covered in flowers is a very amusing image. And he does seem like he could be a gentle mentor to Meta and his siblings. And you can imagine Nobunaga and Phinx running away from the sheer floweriness of this activity ^^ Among the children, I figured Meta would be the one who was most eager to join the Spiders. Kuroro probably wouldn't allow Noah to join the Spiders because he would be too busy dedicating himself to take care of you-know-what. _

_And sorry for the late updates, guys. College has been busy like heeeell, especially since this is my last year. _


	45. O is for Orphans

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings._

* * *

_ABC Series_

**_O is for Orphans_**

* * *

"_We are both capable to be a Judas, Kurapika."_

The stench of death was palpable in the air. So thick that it suffocated.

"_We can be each other's Judas…"_

The ground was slippery with all the gore and the spilled innards. Splattered brains, intestines, shattered bones, severed limbs, gouged eyeballs…

"_I could have just captured you and sold you as the last living Kuruta to other collectors who are willing to pay for handsome amount of money…"_

It was a disaster. They had always known that this might happen. Unlikely, but probable. It was infuriating and frustrating that they were still caught off-guard when it did happen. _He _should have known better. Should have been more prepared. Should have anticipated it to happen _anytime_. But he didn't. And now he was paying the price.

_"You, at the same time, could have sold information about the Ryodan to other Hunters to help you get rid of us."_

Their bodies ached. Some bones were shattered and broken, others fractured. Ligaments were torn, gashes tore through the flesh until bones were showing. Bruises coloured their skins, blood soaked their clothes. Their eyesight was blurred and tinted red with the blood that flowed from their head to their eyes.

_"But we didn't."_

But there were still mountains of corpses to walk through, decimated walls to pass. They needed to continue. Over there. He needed to see her. She needed to see him. They needed…

_"And I don't think we will ever."_

They cried. He cried because he thought that he had lost her. She cried because she thought she had lost him. He cried because he remembered the day he lost Ishtar. She cried because she remembered the day she lost her entire tribe. They cried because they survived. They cried because the children wouldn't be orphans. They cried…

"Oh God... Kurapika… I'm so _glad_…" He sniffled, graceless and heartfelt.

…because they hadn't lost each other.

"Shut up, you big baby… Shut up…" She sobbed haltingly, messy and grateful.

They clung to each other for life, desperately relieved. The dread still clung to them like a plague. The nightmares would visit them for nights. The paranoia would follow them for weeks and months. Even in their current feverish state of mind, they had started thinking of plans to enforce the secrecy of their existence. To erase their tracks. To ensure their invisibility. To make sure that their nice little quaint town they called home in the middle of the mountain would remain uncharted and lost to the world.

To make sure the same disaster wouldn't happen again.

To make sure nobody found out about the Kuruta anymore. To make sure that nobody would try to hunt down and kidnap Kurapika for her Scarlet Eyes again. To make sure nobody would ever know about the children and their Scarlet Eyes.

To make sure the information about the Genei Ryodan wouldn't leak anymore. To make sure they weren't hunted down for the bounty on their heads again. To make sure Kuroro wouldn't lose any of his Spiders more than he already did.

To make sure they wouldn't have to battle the entire army of the Underworld and blacklist Hunters again.

The children were running around excitedly, going over to each dead body to make sure that it really WAS dead. It was a grizzly sight, seeing the children poking at dead bodies, stabbing them in the heart and head execution-style to ensure the death. It was terrifying to see their innocent happy faces as they piled up the corpses and the scattered pieces of those carcasses and burned them bon-fire style. It was unsettling to see how the stink of burnt flesh and boiling blood didn't faze the children. It was disturbing to see how the children amassed the body counts happily as if they were counting their allowance.

But it was okay for now, because they wouldn't be orphans.

Around the burning bodies of their enemies that their parents decimated all by themselves, the children danced and laughed.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ A very dark short chapter, tragic-romantic kind of chapter. Inspired from the conversation with __**bellissima-kirei**__. And no, they didn't betray each other. In case you didn't get it, Kurapika was kidnapped by the Underworld at the same time that an army of blacklist Hunters ganged up on the Genei Ryodan. So Kurapika had to fight her way through from the Underworld armies while Kuroro had to fight his way through the army of Nen-user to get to each other. Not sure if any of the Spiders died in this battle, though. It was a pretty massive battle, almost war-scale. And yeah, Kuroro Lucifer cried. I still remember how he cried for Uvogin's death, and even went as far as orchestrating a bloody requiem in his memory. Imagine what he would do for the death of Kurapika or one of his kids. _

_In the rush of writing a dark chapter, I almost made Kuroro or Kurapika lost a limb or two, or one of the children dead. When I realised what I was thinking, I was like "whoa, whoa! Stop right there! If I kill one of the kids, the readers would kill ME!"_

_And so nobody died here. Except for some few hundreds of thousands unimportant people. Mfufufu…_

_The title Orphans might have scared some of you, though. Maybe you thought this is the time when Kuroro and Kurapika would DIE! Leaving the kids as orphans! Naaah. Yeah it's mentioned that they almost became orphans, but I guess the 'orphans' here is also referring to the fact that Kuroro and Kurapika depend, rely, and need each other so much that if one of them die then the other would effectively be an orphan. It's more to the concept of losing the centre of your world, like how parents are the centre of a child's world. Kuroro and Kurapika are each other's centre of their respective worlds. The 'they' at the last sentence of the story could refer to 'the children' or 'Kuroro and/or Kurapika'. _

_Oh, and a reviewer asked me about who's older between Sarai and Noah. Hmmm I would say Sarai is older by few seconds or minutes. It's like Noah just let his sister get born first because that's just how he is; nice, selfless, and creepy ^^_


	46. P is for Pregnancy

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings._

* * *

_ABC Series_

**_P is for Pregnancy_**

* * *

"…How did you do it, Danchou?"

The poor Spider's voice couldn't be more pathetic. Kuroro simply raised an eyebrow and sipped his coffee.

"Do what?" He asked coolly.

"Dealing with _this_…"

A finger was jabbed to the direction of the wall, but the wall was a plain one with no remarkable details on it. It was a plain, off-white wall. No, Shalnark was not pointing to the wall. What he was referring to was on the other side of the wall, on the room next to the one he was currently occupying with his Danchou. They could hear the faint sobs coming from the other room, and another calm voice speaking soothingly.

"A great deal of patience." Kuroro sipped his coffee again.

In all honesty, Kuroro could empathise with Shalnark. After all, he had been there, done that. Nobody would judge Shalnark just because he had come to Kuroro's house, literally begged Kurapika for salvation, and generally making a pitiful man out of himself. This was his first time and he was still young, only in his mid-twenties. Kuroro was somewhat bemused, though. Shalnark was one of the most knowledgeable in the troupe. If anything, the man was a walking dictionary, almost like Kuroro himself. Then again, Kuroro supposed that theory and real-life practice made for a whole world of difference.

"At least you are not Nen-bound with her." Kuroro said again.

Shalnark didn't even bother hiding the flinch at that statement. He had done research on the topic of Nen-bond; he had heard the theory before but had never seen it. The idea _fascinated _him. Nen-bond was rare for obvious reasons: finding compatible Nens is hard enough as it was, but the process of Nen-binding was very _very _risky. Finding a partner with highly compatible Nen; whom you wanted to spend the rest of your life spiritually bound, and with fine control over his/her Nen so as not to jeopardise the Nen-binding process was really _really _hard. If not nigh impossible. In fact, by the end of his research Shalnark wasn't surprised that Danchou and Kurapika were probably one of the handful Nen-bound partners our there. The fact that Danchou and Kurapika had pulled it off casually and without preparations—without being aware that one tiny mistake could have terminated their lives—was just… Suffice to say it almost drove Shalnark hysterical.

"Must've been harder for you…" The young Spider muttered while nursing his tea.

Shalnark felt bad for his Danchou. If Shalnark was already suffering so much, he couldn't begin to imagine how much it would've affected Danchou. Being Nen-bond often meant being privy and empathic to the partner's emotional status. Sure, by nature Fino was more emotional than Kurapika, but once Kurapika got emotional, the range could be rather…well, extreme.

"Well…" Even Kuroro couldn't hold back a tiny grimace at the recollection.

Kuroro's grimace made Shalnark grimaced even more.

"How bad?" Still, Shalnark was curious.

Kuroro could only sigh, but decided to humour the young Spider.

"As you know, Kurapika is capable of controlling her Nen with finesse under _normal _circumstances. But with pregnancy comes hormonal imbalance, and therefore the moodswings," Kuroro gave a slight jerk of his head to the general direction of Shalnark's bedroom beyond the wall, "as you should know by now."

Shalnark fought back another flinch.

"And because of the hormonal imbalance, her Nen wasn't quite as stable. As is Fino's right now."

Shalnark groaned. Fino's Nen manifested into different scents depending on her mood and how she wanted to sway people's mood. It was like pheromones. Sometimes, it could be lavender when she tried to calm people. Sometimes it was like green tea, refreshing. Sometimes, it was like sea-breeze. However, Shalnark almost died from mortification when the other day Fino's Nen-scent turned aphrodisiac when she was out there in the hall serving the customers. It had _never_ happened before. Well, maybe it never happened outside their _bedroom_, but still!

"Therefore, her Nen in me," Kuroro put a thumb to his chest, "is uncontrollable; which is quite uncomfortable in itself. I could remotely feel what she was feeling, and it was an interesting experience, to say the least. I wasn't sure whether it was part of her craving routine or not, though."

"Well, at least she wasn't craving fresh strawberries in the middle of winter, was she…" Shalnark mumbled while sipping his tea.

"No, she didn't." Kuroro agreed with a chuckle, and sipped more of his coffee. "But she did force Bara to submit under her grooming, attack Lucian with broomstick with the accusation of kidnapping when he tried to get Meta to go with him to his secret labs, blackmail Nobunaga and Phinxs into doing charity works in the orphanage—yes, that was because of Kurapika—have a tearful breakdown when she confessed to Heen that we had left his grandmother Ellie in Bensalem to death during our escape, play doll and basically over-groom Bia, force me to take her to Rukuso Mountain to visit the Kuruta graves in the middle of the night, almost verbally assault Abelard Constantin on the phone when he asked us to come for a party, over-cuddle the Zaoldyck boy almost to death, threaten Ging from the phone in the accusation of child neglect, attack President Netero when he inquired about a Hunter mission…"

Shalnark listened and stared at his Danchou in horror as he continued listing down the terror of Kurapika's pregnancy. It oscillated between weirdly illogical attack and anger, to horrifying over-affections.

"And I'm not sure how it was when she was pregnant with Meta, but when she was having the twins, she was _clingy_. She wouldn't let me out of her sight, and our Nen-bond was basically a leash on me."

Shalnark didn't know which one was more disturbing: the fact that pregnant Kurapika was obsessing over Danchou or the fact that Danchou didn't seem to mind to be put on leash.

"Whenever I attempted to remove my presence from hers, her Nen would know and it would react in here. Quite an interesting experience, if I do say so myself."

"Painful, you mean…"

Kuroro tilted his head slightly, and then shrugged.

"A bit. But really, Shalnark," he continued nonchalantly while downing the rest of his coffee, "at least you have the option to get away."

Shalnark had the grace to look sheepish.

"And Fino is nowhere near volatile as Kurapika. And she is quite harmless, all things considered."

Shalnark had to concede on that point. He still didn't know how his Danchou could cope with it, though. From the sound of it, it seemed like Danchou did try to run away. Shalnark wondered whether Danchou would have run away or not if the Nen-bond hadn't been there.

"But I still would have stayed with her, Nen-bond or not." Kuroro said, as if answering Shalnark's unspoken question and wondering. "I simply found the situation amusing."

"Because you weren't on the receiving end of her wrath…" Shalnark murmured to his tea.

"Most of the time," Kuroro corrected him, but added with a smirk, "in fact, she had been ridiculously affectionate toward me."

"Danchou, spare me the details—" Shalnark started in horror.

"I was not about to tell them to you, you rascal." The Spider Head laughed. "But anyway, it's time for me to go."

Kuroro stood up, dutifully ignoring Shalnark's startled "Eh?" and leisurely walked towards the door.

"Your wife is considerably calmer now. And if I'm reading it correct, she would want your company soon."

"Reading it—what?—Reading _what _correct?" Shalnark stuttered as he scrambled to his feet and followed Kuroro out of the room in bewilderment.

Just as they stepped out of the room, Shalnark's bedroom door opened to reveal Kurapika. She turned and immediately target-locked Shalnark with her eyes. Shalnark briefly saw the huge wet stain on Kurapika's blouse before he quickly averted his eyes to hers, reason being said wet stain was on the vicinity of her chest. He did not want to be accused of ogling Kurapika's breasts; especially not within his _pregnant _wife's earshot. At the same time, his mind was telling him that Fino must have shed copious amount of tears to make that huge of a wet stain.

"Yes?" He asked almost nervously, and _felt _Danchou rolling his eyes next to him.

"Fino wants you." Kurapika simply stated as she stepped away from the door.

"She wouldn't attack me?"

This time, it was Kurapika who rolled her eyes.

"By hurling pillows to you?"

"She's got nice sharp nails, mind you." Shalnark muttered sheepishly as he walked towards the door and closed it gently behind him.

Kurapika observed the door for a while with a bemused expression on her face, before she turned to her husband.

"Any reason why Shalnark is suddenly afraid of Fino attacking him?"

"I have no idea." Kuroro answered in amusement.

Kurapika raised an eyebrow.

"I do believe you have an idea."

"Do I?" Kuroro agreed as he turned around. "Are we done here?"

"Yes, we are. And yes you have that face again." Kurapika inquired as she followed him down the stairs and out of the Inn.

"What face?" He asked innocently.

"That conniving face that tells me you have just pulled someone's legs." She deadpanned.

"Come now, Kurapika. I have merely enlightened him on the great lengths that a pregnant woman can go in regards of their moodswings and unpredictability."

"What, you're an expert on pregnant woman now?" Kurapika snorted in amusement.

"Kurapika, YOU went to great extremes when you were pregnant. I have probably suffered the most unstable and volatile pregnant woman ever."

"It wasn't _that_ bad!" Kurapika gave a scandalised gasp.

"You went from attempting to murder people to smothering others with affection. How is that not extreme?"

"I didn't—It was—" Kurapika spluttered in embarrassment, her face brighter than a fresh tomato. "It wasn't _that _extreme!"

"It was."

"No!"

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes. Want to bet?"

"Yes—wha—huh—bet—how?"

Kuroro smirked.

"Incidentally, Sarai said she wants a little sibling."

The gears turned in Kurapika's head. When they clicked, Kurapika's face turned even redder—if that was even possible.

"KURORO LUCIFER!"

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ Sooooooo many people are requesting I do something regarding Kurapika's pregnancy. And NOPE, people. Hold your horses. They are not getting more kids. That was just Kuroro teasing the life out of Kurapika. TOO BAD! Nyahahaha…_


	47. Q is for Questions

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings._

* * *

_ABC Series_

**_Q is for Questions_**

* * *

Children ask questions. Everybody knows that. They also tend to ask embarrassing questions with straight, innocent faces—much to the chagrin of most adults. Parents had it especially hard because they had the obligation to answer the children's questions in order to educate them and—most often than not—not to appear stupid in front of their children.

Such things weren't the problem of Kuroro Lucifer and Kurapika Kuruta, though. One, they were well confident in their vast reserve of knowledge not to be intimidated by a child's innocently weird and potentially embarrassing questions—although the embarrassment of them asking in inappropriate time and place was rather a problem, as their children had a sense of timing that left much to be desired. Two, they knew ways to avoid answering questions by deflecting the inquisitive little spawns of devil to other more _appropriate _sources.

"How do people killing each other in wars solve world's problems?"

Kuroro and Kurapika promptly bundled the children and shipped them to one Killua Zaoldyck; who then took them with him to the Zaoldyck house to question the elders of the family because Killua claimed to be a retired assassin. Zeno Zaoldyck had the most fun in his life educating them on the business of assassination and trying to convince them to join the trade. Killua immediately regretted his decision of introducing the impressionable kids to his assassin family and grovelled for forgiveness by Kurapika's feet when the children came home and Sarai announcing that she would like to try becoming an assassin—which would never happen because Sarai Lucifer Kuruta did NOT do silent and stealth. She had a natural tendency of making an entrance with _loud _fanfare. Kuroro had a stomach cramp trying to rein in his laughter in order to maintain dignity and reputation in front of the young Zaoldyck.

"Why do some people eat other humans?"

"Does human flesh taste good?"

"And why do they sleep with corpses?"

Books on human psychology were employed and shoved to the children's arms and they were sent away to Lucian in Wallachia. Lucian's subsequent ranting over the phone claiming that he was no necrophilia or a cannibal was largely ignored because while they knew that Lucian was neither a necrophilia nor a cannibal, he was the only undead they knew and supposedly knew better in the manners of dead bodies. The thought was not appreciated by one apoplectic vampire, but said vampire still managed to educate the children by bringing them to some mental institution and making them sit for three-hours-long lectures on human's mental illnesses by the resident doctors. The children came back home looking slightly green, with Noah looking disturbingly interested in mental illnesses.

"Do daemons fart, pee, and shit?"

Both parents honestly had no idea where this fascination with the non-human excretory system came from, but couldn't exactly fault them for being curious. _They _didn't know either. So they did what they could only do: the extensive lending of one Encyclopaedia of Daemons and siccing Bast on them. Bast threw a hissing fit on them for throwing her under the proverbial bus and forced to endure the most humiliating questioning of her lifetime. On hindsight, not only that Kuroro and Kurapika also learned of daemons's varying excretory system, they also learned that cats—animals, daemons, and otherwise—did hold grudges like nobody's business. Their only consolation was that Bast was fond of Meta and the kids enough that her grudge wouldn't extend for seven generations.

"What's oral sex?"

…Hatsubaba was the next victim, with the excuse that she was the expert on human anatomy. Which was partially true, considering that she was a 'doctor' in some way. A witch doctor, no less. Kuroro and Kurapika gladly endured her ranting, going as far as answering her summon to Ryuusei-gai and sitting with bowed heads like errant children as she chewed their ears off. In their opinion Hatsubaba's wrath was worth suffering than answering _that _question. It was the lesser evil, so to say.

And of course, the most dreaded question of all time.

"Where do babies come from?"

Because in order to answer that question, the mechanic of sexual intercourse had to be explained as well. And to Kuroro's horror, the question was directed at him. Why they asked him and not Kurapika, he had NO idea and had the suspicion that he didn't want to know why. So Kuroro did the first thing that came to his mind:

"Go ask your mother."

Which, on hindsight, wasn't the brightest idea. Ever. Because Kurapika refused to suffer alone on this and sending them over to Hatsubaba again was probably the better choice. Alas, the damage had been done.

"Get your father here and we will tell you together."

In the end, Kurapika and Kuroro spent the day arguing over who was going to explain which parts. Kuroro argued that since Kurapika was the mother so she had to do the explaining, but Kurapika insisted that Kuroro had a major role in creating the lives as well. The only concession that they agreed on was that they were NOT going to use the birds and the bees or whatever metaphor to explain the whole reproduction system; because Kuroro thought they were just silly and humiliating and Kurapika thought the children were smarter than that.

In the end, the children learned of the whole reproduction system through gleaning from their heated, long-drawn, extensively educated arguments and using the Human's Biology book as reference.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ My brain came up blank and could only do this short chapter on Q. It's been fun putting our favourite couple on awkward moments. Hope you all enjoy it. Review please!_


	48. R is for Refuge

_**Disclaimer**__: I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings._

* * *

_Part 1_

**_R is for Refuge_**

* * *

Kurapika Kuruta was bemused. But that was putting it rather mildly. The moment she found herself pregnant with Meta, she had resigned herself to her maternal instincts and duties. When she decided to 'settle down' with her former nemesis Kuroro Lucifer—gah, that sounds so wrong for her—she had known that she was stepping into proper family structure. When she found herself pregnant with the twins, she knew that she was going to spend more of her time as a mother than as a Hunter. However, she was pretty sure she hadn't signed up for _this_.

"Back off! Don't hurt them! Can't you see that she has cubs with her?!"

_**She's terrorising the animals in this forest! And I am having none of that!**_ If Bara was any lions, he would have made a rather impressive snarl.

_This _meaning dealing with her children having a falling-out with their supernatural demonic unicorn over the fate of a wolf pack that consisted of only a she-wolf and her litter. Said wolf pack was safely shielded by a wall made of her children, bravely and stupidly standing protectively in front of a defensive she-wolf who had her shackles raised. The she-wolf was magnificent, with beautiful sky-blue and white mane and fierce golden eyes, although she looked a tad too skinny to be healthy. To Kurapika's relief and Kuroro's great amusement, the she-wolf seemed to intelligently recognize the children as her allies and focused her utmost malice towards a furious Bara only.

"Bara, you meanie!" Sarai shrieked.

_**Father, she's a predator. She's of higher trophic level **_(i.e. an organism's position in the food chain)_** than all the animals here except from us. It's in her nature.**_ Una, standing on the sideline and unwilling to take sides, pleaded to her father to avoid bloodshed.

_**All the more reason to get rid of her!**_

"But she needs to feed her kids!"

"They are called cubs, Sarai. Kids are technically for young offspring of goats."

"But we're human children?"

"It's a slang, sister."

"Language lesson aside," Meta rolled his eyes, "you still can't kill them, Bara!"

_**Then she can jolly well hunt somewhere else! Not in this forest!**_ Bara spat.

"I agree."

Chorus of "Mom!", "Mama!", "_Mommy!_", and a less scandalized and more like disapproving "Mother..." rang shrilly in the forest. Kurapika reeled for a while from the sheer volume, as did Kuroro who was by her side, but she recovered quickly enough to explain why she would prefer for the wolf pack to be off their Backyard Forest.

"First of all, the she-wolf there is an apex predator. She preys on all other animals in this Forest, meaning she eats and hunts all those little friends of yours."

At this, the children paled a bit. Score one for Kurapika.

"Second, the ecosystem in this Forest is stable and established, and most importantly _okay_. Introducing an apex predator into the ecosystem will mess up the balance and who knows what will happen because of that. Would you like to see that?"

The children exchanged nervous glances.

"Third, we already have two unicorns and one rapt—Sarai, where's Bibi?" Kurapika asked in alarm.

_**Sweet dear Lord, not again! **_Bara moaned.

Sarai made a squeak as she frantically looked around in order to locate her missing pet. Her elder siblings merely groaned. Sarai _always _lost track of Bibi.

"She wandered off when you started speaking." Kuroro said languidly, with an underlying snicker.

"Why didn't you tell me?!" Kurapika hissed while slapping his forearm.

"I'm not her keeper." Kuroro shrugged, and then gave a reprimanding look at Sarai. "She is."

"I'll get her." Sarai said sheepishly, and began whistling.

When she found out that Bibi liked to wander off on her own, Sarai started developing a call system for the errant raptor so she could call her back whenever she needed to. She would whistle certain tone and pitch to call the raptor, with other combinations for other specific instructions.

Soon enough, a small baby raptor emerged from the bushes and darted towards her master happily. It made a strange bird-like chirrup at Sarai, before sitting by her feet obediently. Bibi had just recently started developing her feathers, which made her look like a strange gigantic chicken with scary rows of teeth.

[**Author's Note: raptors don't look like the raptors in Jurassic Park. That's an outdated version of raptor. Recent discoveries say that raptors are feathered. Try googling them on Wikipedia**]

"Bibi, don't wander off!" Sarai scolded her.

Bibi made a protesting sound and then proceeded to spit something out. It was a small bone; probably a rodent's.

"Oh." Sarai said lamely.

"You forgot to feed her." Kurapika crossed her arms and tapped her foot while glaring at her daughter.

"Eh-heh…" Said daughter gave her mother a weak I'm-sorry-please-don't-scold-me smile. "She's very independent."

"Because you are irresponsible." Kuroro said, his tone reprimanding.

"...I'm sorry." Sarai had the grace to look really guilty. "I'm sorry, Bibi."

Sarai bent down and pat the baby raptor on the head. Bibi chirruped happily and leaned to the touch.

"Well, I was saying, we already have two unicorns and a raptor here. When Bibi's grown up, she'll be an apex predator in this Forest and we still don't know how we'll deal with that." At that, Kurapika glared at Kuroro; which was dutifully ignored by the latter. "There's no need to complicate things further by adding a wolf pack into the Forest."

_**Indeed**_**, **Bara groused with a sniff.

"Are you going to send her away, too?" Sarai asked with dread. She quickly scooped Bibi up and hugged her close to her chest.

"Sarai, Bibi is capable of eating a man when she's big enough." Kurapika said with a sigh.

_**She might eat you when you forget to feed her again, **_Bara taunted evilly.

"Bibi won't eat me!" Sarai exclaimed; scandalised by the suggestion.

_**You never know~~ **_

_**Father! Stop teasing the poor child! How old are you? Five? **_Una chided her father; scandalised by his immaturity.

_**She makes it so fun, **_Bara whined but stopped his teasing nonetheless.

"So anyway, back to this wolf pack." Kurapika said with a sigh. This was getting tiring. "They—"

"I think we should feed them first." Noah suddenly interrupted. "The cubs are starving."

Everyone in the vicinity turned their attention to the cubs, and indeed they were whimpering pitifully. One of them even started chewing on the grass in desperation. The mother wolf tried to comfort them with a low rumble, licking their face and grooming them to distract them from their hunger.

"Oh. Right. Meta, go home and get the meat."

"Eeeeh? Why me?" Meta whined shamelessly, but quickly dashed towards their home when he heard another chorus of whimper from the cubs.

"And some milk, too!" Kurapika shouted at him when he was at a distance. Judging by how thin the she-wolf was, she probably didn't have enough milk to nourish the cubs.

"Bia will get them!" Meta shouted back.

"_WHAT?! Why, that insufferable…_" Bia complained but still ran towards the house too.

It amazed Kurapika how Bia always projected her thoughts with her Nen just as naturally as how people spoke them although she didn't have the voice. It was like she could automatically project the thoughts that counted as spoken words but didn't project those that counted as personal thoughts.

"So! While we wait for those two…" Kurapika crouched down so that she was somewhat eye-level to the she-wolf. Well, not exactly a wolf… "You're a Lykaia, aren't you?"

"I'm guessing that too." Kuroro said with approving tone in his voice.

"What's that?" Sarai asked curiously.

"If you read your Encyclopaedia of All Living Things seriously, you would've read about them." Noah deadpanned.

Sarai gave another scandalised look and stepped on her twin's foot. Noah elbowed her in retaliation with a disapproving frown.

"So what is a Lykaia, Noah?" Kuroro asked airily.

"A highly intelligent species of animals with the appearance of a wolf, with the capability of human speech. In short, a talking smart giant wolf. Like a Kiriko, only without the shape-shifting ability."

**[Author's Note: Kiriko is the shape-shifting beast that tested Gon and friends in the Hunter's Exam]**

_**Succinctly summarised, **_the Lykaia said with an amused tone. _**Of all four children, you are the only one who treats me with the intelligence and respect I deserve. You found me out early, did you not? On first glance, I suppose?**_

"You feel different from normal wolves." Noah said in matter-of-fact tone. "You feel more like Gon's Kiriko friend."

"Indeed she does." Kuroro murmured. He could feel it, but only faintly. Noah seemed to have stronger instinct and intuition. Kuroro turned to Kurapika and their eyes met.

"I only found out because I observed her behaviour. She was listening to our conversation and responded like she perfectly understood them."

_**You have keen eyes, ma'am. I felt your eyes on me the entire time. **_

"I mean no ill-intention to you and your pack, but I am truly concerned of the ecosystem of this forest. This forest is too close to human settlement. Even having that baby raptor here is already a huge risk."

_**Your sentiment is shared. I would not choose this forest to settle down either. too close to the humans. **_The Lykaia spat the word 'human' with so much vehement that Kurapika couldn't help but to inquire about that.

"Did humans drive you out of your dwelling?"

_**That, they did. And more. **_The Lykaia began growling.

"What happened?" Somehow, Kurapika could sympathise and empathise with this Lykaia. Somehow, the Lykaia's pain resonated with her.

_**The humans killed my mates and destroyed my home. And this is my third litter. My previous litters never made it to maturity.**_ The she-wolf hissed furiously. _**None survived. Oh, my poor poor precious cubs… **_

The wolflings sensed their mother's distress and mewled plaintively. All of them nuzzled deep into their dam's fur.

_**And their sires. My mates. The sire of my first litter. The sire of my second litter. And then the sire of this litter. All of them, killed by the humans for their meat and fur! **_

Kurapika said nothing. For some reasons, she was reminded of her old tribe. Of the late Kuruta tribe. Massacred for their Scarlet Eyes…

_**And then the humans went for war. Killing each other for petty excuses. Ridiculous. Their war burned down our forest, killing off our games. We had no choice but to flee. Our forest had turned into a field of death. **_The she-wolf curled her tail so that she enveloped her entire litter. _**The youngest of this litter, the smallest, didn't survive the journey here. I had to bury my young yet again...**_

The cubs whimpered and pressed closer to their mother; distressed as the memory of their brother's demise was still fresh in their young minds. The mother groomed them to comfort them, but her heart was also grieving.

"No parents should outlive their children..." Kurapika muttered solemnly. She didn't want to imagine burying Meta's cold lifeless body. Or Bia's. Or the twins'.

_**I hope you will never feel this pain. **_The Lykaia said quietly. Wistfully.

"We won't." Kuroro suddenly said, firm and sure and _determined_. "We will make sure of it."

Kurapika shot him a grateful smile. Sometimes she really needed his optimism.

"But that aside, although I don't want them staying permanently in the Backyard Forest, I can't very well let them all starve to death. Where can we put them safely?" Kurapika asked Kuroro.

Kuroro raised his hand and covered his mouth in his trademark thinking-mode.

"Well…"

* * *

"You are expecting me to put them in the forest in Wallachia? Are you insane? I already have a gang of baby dinosaurs running around there, and now you want me to add a pack of Lykaia to the count?!"

Of course, Kuroro's solution was to consult their family friend Lucian Virgiliu. Lucian was eager to help, but once Kuroro stated one of his suggestions for relocating the family of Lykaia, Lucian began thinking of making strategic retreat.

"You're still keeping those dinosaurs?" Kuroro asked in amusement as he sipped his hot tea.

Right now they were in his house, discussing on how to help the Lykaia family. Kuroro wasn't too eager to help, but the children and Kurapika wouldn't let him off. The Lykaia was resting in the living room in front of the fireplace, safe from the element and warm. It was autumn and nearing winter, so the weather outside was rather cold. Fed and warm, the cubs had quickly drifted to sleep. The mother Lykaia, however, decided to stay up and observed the discussion. So far, she found the vampire very amusing.

"What do you expect me to do? Kill them in cold blood? Before you start, yes my blood is technically cold because I'm a vampire. Figure of speech, brother."

"Your blood is cold?" Kurapika couldn't help but to gawk.

"I'll show you later," Lucian quickly said to Kurapika before turning back to Kuroro. "And I can't just dump them back to the Dark Continents because they are still _babies._"

"You can drop them in Ryuusei-gai Forest." Kuroro said with a raised eyebrow.

"And have all those crazy beasts rip them apart? Hell no!" For someone who was trying to get agang of baby dinosaurs out of his hair, Lucian was awfully concerned of their well-being.

"You can try asking Gon's father about it. It's his specialty, I think." Kurapika tapped her chin thoughtfully. "If I remember correctly, Gon once told me that Ging has dinosaur friends. Or was it dragon?"

_**[Author's Note: refer to chapter 66]**_

"Really?! Give me his number!" In a flash, Lucian had his phone out and ready.

"Regretfully, I don't have his number." Kurapika said with a wry smile. "Neither does Gon, by the way. The guy is unreachable unless you have a specific way to reach him; which very few people know."

Lucian practically melted to the ground in despair.

"Try Anansi. He always knows where to find him. There was a time when those two were inseparable." Kuroro said with a slight grimace that had Kurapika raising an amused eyebrow.

"Bad combo?" She asked teasingly.

"Bad for my mental health." Kuroro mumbled grudgingly.

Kurapika couldn't hold back a snigger; which didn't falter even when Kuroro glared at her.

"On that note, perhaps we should ask Ging for assistance in regards to Asena and her cubs." She said after she finished her sniggering.

Asena was the name of the mother Lykaia that Noah somehow managed to coax out of the beast. Out of all of them, the Lykaia was most receptive to Noah. Perhaps out of the mutual respect because Noah had treated her since the very beginning with the supposed respect that she deserved as an intelligent being.

"Perhaps." Kuroro shrugged.

Kurapika nodded, and proceeded to stare at Kuroro.

And stared.

And stared.

And staaaaaaaaaared.

"Yes, Kurapika?"

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

"What?"

"Contact Anansi, you dolt! When are you going to do it? Next year?"

"You want _me _to contact _him_?"

Kuroro had sounded so incredulous that Lucian couldn't help but to guffaw.

"Sometimes you are so incredibly dumb" Kurapika rolled her eyes. "First of all, he is practically your father."

"He is not—"

"Blah blah blah yeah whatever. Second, he is your familiar. So it's your job to contact him."

"He is the one who needs him." Kuroro jabbed a finger at Lucian.

"We do, too!" Kurapika smacked his arm. "So go! Now!"

"Insufferable woman." Kuroro muttered under his breath as he walked away. He didn't need phone anymore to contact the Spider Incarnate because of the bond between master and familiar. Telepathic communication was just so convenient.

"Ditto to you too." She rolled her eyes again. She then turned to Asena. "Sorry, but you'll have to wait for a while."

_**I do not mind. As long as my cubs are safe. **_Asena said quietly, and rather contently.

She mistrusted humans in general, but these humans seemed okay. They seemed rather extraordinary. First of all, which normal humans were close friends with a powerful aristocratic vampire? (For all his goofiness, Asena could still see an aristocratic creature when she saw one) Second of all, these humans had tamed two renegade unicorns and had a raptor pet. Third, the man of the house seemed to have a rather inhuman heritage in his blood. In her book, these humans were the closest thing she had to an ally. They might not want her in their forest—and she could truly respect that, because in turn these people were respecting and protecting the forest—but they were trying to help her. Find a place for her and her cubs to live safely. From the sound of it, they even went as far as contacting people from distant places. Asena was a honourable creature, and she would be damned if she did not show these people the respect they deserved for offering her so much help when they didn't have to. They could've just left her in the cold and starvation, and she wouldn't begrudge them for that because it was within their rights.

_**I thank you. You and your family have the eternal gratitude of my pack. **_She bowed her head low, paying her respect to her benefactor.

"Thanks the kids. If they haven't made such a big fuss in the forest, we wouldn't have come to investigate and we wouldn't have known about you guys at all." Kurapika said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Oh? What happened? Tell me in details." Lucian said with childish curiosity.

"Well…"

As Kurapika told Lucian the story, Asena pondered about her words. The woman was right, of course. Those little humans were the reason that she and her cubs were warm and full in this comfy little house. She didn't know why they did it, but they had fought tooth and nail for her pack's welfare. The children meant well, but there only so much they could do. The bulk of the aid—the house, the food, the contact—might have mainly come from the parents, but without the children's naggings her good fortune would probably wouldn't go this far.

_**Then I shall give them my gratitude personally. Where can I find them? **_She asked politely.

"Oh just stay there. I sent them to buy more food, but they should be back soon. I'm pretty sure Kuroro can make Anansi convince Ging to help somehow—or I'll just blackmail him, no problem—but it'll still take time for Ging to come and help. It'll be a few days; a week at least."

"The cubs will need a lot. They are too thin for my liking." Lucian sniffed in disdain when he saw how malnourished the cubs were.

"Agreed." Kurapika said with a frown.

Asena was astonished and speechless. So astonished by their generosity that she didn't give a peep of protest when the kids came back and home, hastily stuffed all their groceries in the fridge, and began fussing over her and her cubs. She didn't protest either when Bia started grooming her with some sort of brush and Sarai began cooing at how warm and soft she was as the girl petted her head; generally treating her like a house pet. She certainly wasn't going to protest when Noah started scratching her behind her ears and Meta started petting her back. She was just glad that they locked their raptor pet somewhere else in the house.

"Kuroro will complain though." Kurapika said with a sigh. "He doesn't like doing charity when it's not him who initiates it."

"I thought by now he's already used to saving poor unfortunate souls left and right, with you and the kids around him all the time and dragging him along?" Lucian said with a raised eyebrow.

"He still tries to escape every time." Kurapika rolled her eyes. "Besides, count it as community service for all he's done with the Spiders."

"Geez, what are you? His parole officer?"

"My part-time job." Kurapika gave him a conspiring wink.

The rest of the day was spent by Asena observing the quirky family. The rest of the week was spent interacting with them as they waited for the arrival of Ging. The children always played with her cubs, while the adults usually engaged her in a conversation regarding just anything that came to mind. Sometimes they asked about her species, sometimes they asked about the places she had gone to. Sometimes they just traded words of wisdom and philosophies—which the children quickly tuned out. When Ging finally came to relocate them—fortunately without needing Kurapika's blackmailing skill to 'convince' him—Asena was rather sad to leave these strange humans.

Perhaps, one day when her cubs were grown and strong, they would visit them here in this mountain. Perhaps she could find a way so that she could cohabit with them in this mountain. The mountain was big, big enough for her pack to live there without disturbing the ecosystem too much. Right now the problem was that her cubs were too weak to fend off the larger predators roaming the mountain's forest. However, when they were all grown and strong, that wouldn't be a problem.

Perhaps, she really could stay with these humans. Then, she could repay their kindness. After all, their kindness might very well have saved her entire pack. She was a creature of honour. She would repay this life debt.

* * *

_**Author's Note**__: Finally another chapter! This chapter was inspired by the article I read about cougars in National Geographic magazine. It says that although cougars are highly skilled hunters, that doesn't ensure their survival. Many cougar cubs don't reach maturity, and many adults are killed or poached before they can make another pack. It's sad, really. The Lykaia wolves in this chapter are these cougars. I do believe humans have a hand in contributing to these beautiful hunters' dwindling numbers, directly and indirectly. And probably Asena and her cubs will make a reappearance?_


	49. S is for Scarlet

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings._

* * *

_ABC Series_

**_S IS FOR SCARLET_**

* * *

"Dad?"

"Hm?"

"Will I get a number?"

Kuroro looked up from the book he was reading and turned his head around to stare at his eldest son. Said boy was absentmindedly fiddling with the corner of the page he was supposed to be reading. Judging from the thickness of the tome, Kuroro knew that Bast would be throwing a hissy fit at the boy's failure to read the entire Encyclopaedia of Daemons in a day. For once, it wasn't Kuroro who insisted that Meta educated himself.

"What number?"

"Number 11 is empty, right?"

Kuroro's eyes narrowed as he observed and studied the boy's dark blue eyes. They were curious and inquisitive, but there was a glaze of anticipation in them. Kuroro immediately knew what the boy wanted, and he had to hold back a sigh. Sooner or later, they would have to have this discussion. Abandoning his book altogether, he put it on the table and swivel his chair to give his full undivided attention to his son. This was going to be a looooong talk.

"Yes."

"So can I—"

"No."

Meta's expression was between flustered, scandalised, and indignation. Under normal circumstances, Kuroro would've thought the expression cute. But this wasn't such circumstance.

"I haven't even said what I want!" The boy protested vehemently.

"I know, so don't even go there."

"So what do I want?" The mini-Kurapika challenged.

"You want to join the Ryodan."

Meta deflated, obviously disappointed that his father indeed got it right.

"But why not?"

"First of all, your skills aren't on par with the rest of the Spiders. I have no need of deadweight in the Ryodan." Kuroro deadpanned, blunt and to the point.

If Meta was any puppy, he would be whining pitifully with his ears flat on his skull and his big eyes teary. It wasn't every day that his father told him flatly that his skills were lacking, but calling him a deadweight took the cake.

"Second of all, do you know the job description of the Spiders?"

"Err…" He twiddled his thumbs sheepishly.

Kuroro resisted the urge to rub the bridge of his nose.

"Obviously, you don't."

If anything, the ten-year-old boy looked like he hadn't even considered that at all. He fleetingly recalled that Kurapika's friends—especially that Zaoldyck boy—went on their shenanigans when they were twelve. He had the feeling that his boy was starting that phase way earlier. Joy.

"We steal, we pillage, we kill. By any means necessary. Old and young. Men and women. Invalid and children." Kuroro said bluntly, not even attempting to spare any sordid details. "Can you do that? Can you execute your missions without qualms? Without being weighed down by conscience? Without having nightmares, restless night after restless night? Without being haunted by ghosts of your victims and targets?"

Kuroro felt a strange sense of satisfaction when he saw the shock and uncertainty registering to the boy's face and eyes.

The guilt, the remorse, the restless nights, the haunting; those are the things that Kuroro never experienced. Those are things that Kuroro wasn't privy to. Those are things that Kurapika had told him years ago, when she recounted the duel-to-death between her and Uvogin as she led him to his makeshift grave that she had made for the gargantuan Spider. She told him how she was haunted by the ghosts of Pakunoda and Uvogin; images conjured from her guilt, from the dread of doing her first kill. He hadn't understood the feeling, couldn't empathise with her. He merely sat there, listening to her and sitting across her with his knees touching hers; a reassurance. He couldn't comfort her, couldn't hold her hands or embrace her. It would be disrespect if he pretended to comfort her when he really didn't understand her grief and distress.

He didn't understand the feeling, but he understood enough to know that Kurapika didn't want any of her children to experience the same thing. What more, Meta was _empathic_. Whatever his victims were feeling, they would feel it very strongly at the brink of their death and Meta would be inevitably affected. It would be horrendously detrimental on the boy's psyche, and Kuroro Lucifer was having none of that.

"Us, the original members of Genei Ryodan," he continued with low voice, "we didn't take up this job because we wanted to. It was out of necessity. The rest of them, they have their own reasons."

"I know… Uncle Franklin said the same thing…" The boy murmured sadly.

Kuroro leaned forward and stared into his son's eyes; the dark blue eyes that were an in-between of his and Kurapika's eyes. When he was younger he looked so much like Kurapika, but now those facial features had grown into his likeness. Only the eye shape remained like Kurapika's; cat-like and sharp. The Spider Head reached out and took his son's hand. He turned it around and traced the mark on his palm with his long thin finger. The identical mark as the one on his head, the birthmark that symbolised their solomonarii heritage.

"You have no such need." Kuroro said in a whisper-like voice. "You don't need to be like us in order to survive."

Meta; probably noticing the sombre mood that his father had gotten into, didn't make any witty remarks as he was prone to do. He held still as his father seemed to be in deep thoughts while tracing the diamond shape on his palm. And then, he saw it.

His father's dark eyes. The deep black eyes that seemed to swallow light, they shone _bright_. Meta was never before afraid of his father's eyes. Even when he was furious, his eyes weren't this frightening. Not in the cold-blooded-murderer kind of scariness, but more of…like…

"Dad?"

…like a fallen-angel kind of insanity…

Meta tried pulling his hand away, but the grip was steely.

"Dad?"

Kuroro blinked, and the brightness was gone.

"Meta…" The grip softened, but he didn't let go. "Show me your Scarlet Eyes."

"Eh?"

"Show me." Kuroro repeated, his voice stronger and steadier. "Your mother's legacy."

Meta was unsure, but he complied. It took him considerable effort to summon forth his Scarlet Eyes without feeling angry or any other strong emotions, but he managed to pull it off in the end. He stared into his father's onyx black eyes, waiting for his response. After an agonizingly long time for Meta, the silence was broken by his father.

"You can't control them perfectly yet, can you?" Kuroro finally said in a murmur.

"Not exactly…" Meta answered with small voice. He knew that 'perfect control of Scarlet Eyes' was high on the priority list of the skills that he needed to perfect, but that wasn't an easy thing to do.

Kuroro exhaled a sigh; a tired sigh that Meta had never heard from him before. He had never seen his father looking so tired before, looking older than usual. It was as if age suddenly caught up with him with vengeance.

"As long as you can't perfectly control your Scarlet Eyes, you can never join the Spiders. Nor can you go out to the world on your own." Kuroro suddenly said, with firm voice that brooked no argument. This was a final verdict, but rebellious Meta couldn't help but to protest against it.

"What?! Why?!"

In his indignation and petulance, Meta tried wrenching his hand away from his father's grip, but that had the exact opposite result. Kuroro tightened the grip to the point that it was almost painful, and his other hand shot up to grip the boy in the chin. Kuroro literally forced the boy to look at him in the eye, his onyx eyes darkening even further with demand for absolute obedience and no-nonsense.

Meta could only freeze in fear.

"You know your mother's history. The history of your tribe. Of _your _bloodline." Kuroro leaned further in, closer to the boy's face and invading his personal space. "You know how_**I massacred **_her entire tribe for these Scarlet Eyes."

Meta gulped hard, his lower lips trembling.

"Deep down, she still holds that resentment. The anger. The fury. They resurface sometimes, when she is at her worst." Kuroro continued his furious litany, determined to make his son see sense and understand the predicament that he was born into as a Kuruta. Ironic that the murderer of the tribe was now trying so hard to preserve it. "Scarlet Eyes are prized items. They are _hunted_ down. If you can't control your Scarlet Eyes to perfection and people find out about your bloodline, this place will _burn_. Your siblings will be _hunted_ down, their eyes _gouged_ out to be put in preservative liquid and displayed like trophy. The more perverse ones would capture them _alive_ and exhibit them like a zoo animal."

Kuroro drew a shaky breath, and Meta tried to hold back the tears.

"I have seen them do that, Meta. _**I **_was the one who sold them the harvested Scarlet Eyes and _people_. I _beheaded _your mother's brother and sold his head to the collectors." Kuroro grimaced at this.

Those people that his group had captured alive and sold to the flesh collectors, he had heard that they soon committed suicide—deeming death better than being humiliated and treated like an object. He couldn't fault them for it. In fact, he could respect them in that aspect. In a split second, he imagined Kurapika being treated like them, and his fury spiked up to a dangerous level. When Meta, Sarai, and Noah were added to the equation, his fury was so insurmountable that Meta started to turn green and physically ill from the malice that he was emitting in his Nen. He quickly recomposed himself, and directed his attention back to his still-shaking son.

"As I said, you are not going out of this town and mountain without supervision. Not until you perfectly master your Scarlet Eyes." Kuroro said with gentler voice as he leaned back and released his hold on the boy.

Meta continued shaking in his spot, before he broke into a run out of the study room. Kuroro didn't miss the faint sobs mixed with the pitter-patter of his feet as he ran down the corridor. He buried his face in his hands and released a gush of sigh.

* * *

"What did you tell him?"

For once, Kurapika wasn't angry at him for upsetting the child. She was calm, and actually sounded _concerned _about him.

"What needs to be said." Kuroro said quietly as he sat on the edge of the bed, back hunched and elbows on knees.

"Which is?"

"He is not allowed to go out of the mountain until he can _perfectly _control his Scarlet Eyes, unless with supervision." Kuroro deadpanned.

He heard Kurapika heaving a great sigh, before he heard her kneeling behind him on the bed. He then felt a gentle hand on his back.

"Why?" She knew why, but she just wanted to hear it from the man himself.

"He's too reckless. I have no desire to have people hunting down _**my**_ children just because they can't control their gifts."

"He's _ten_." Kurapika asserted while rolling her eyes. "I agree with your rule, but you didn't have to threaten him like that."

Kuroro shot her an apologetic smile across his shoulder, and Kurapika knew that was as much as an apology she would get from the man.

"And… He doesn't need to be like me. Us."

Kurapika's eyes widened.

"Did he…?"

"He wishes to join the Spiders." There was disapproval in his tone.

"I thought you want him to join?" The confusion was clear in her voice.

Kuroro didn't reply. Kurapika leaned forward and rested her head on his back. She could hear his heartbeats. Earlier that day, she had felt his agitation, his fury. At first she thought Meta had done something _really bad _(read: near catastrophic or cataclysmic) that warranted such rare fury from Kuroro, but she then realised that the fury had been _internal_.

Kurapika peered over his shoulder to look at his face.

"What agitated you so much today?" She asked in a whisper.

"Something unpleasant." He said, trying to sound as flippantly as possible.

"Obviously." She rolled her eyes. "What is it?"

It was a while before he finally replied. Even then his voice was quiet and small, as if he was most reluctant to talk about it. But he still spoke while looking at her in the eyes.

"I know, and have seen, the fates of your people. Those we killed for the Eyes, and those we captured and auctioned alive."

Kurapika looked away with a frown. Kuroro made a small wistful smile at that, and closed his eyes.

"I didn't like the images that my mind conjured when I recalled their fates. Their faces superimposed with yours. And the children's."

Kurapika wanted to throw some caustic remarks at him, but found that she couldn't bring herself to do it. Kuroro had his head hung low and his eyes closed, but his eyebrows were furrowed and his face looking very much troubled. She figured that 'I didn't like' was probably a huge understatement. Still, Kurapika also couldn't help but to detach herself from him and went over to the open window. She didn't see Kuroro's frown deepening.

"Don't get me wrong, Kurapika. I don't regret what I've done." Kuroro said quietly.

"I know." She murmured. "I know. You've reminded me time and time again. Over and over again."

He had apologised for the grief that he had caused her because of the massacre—he still remembered that rainy day in the cave when he had apologized to her and she had proceeded to beat his tetanus-ridden body up. But never once had he admitted that the mission was a mistake. Never once had he said that he wished he hadn't done that. He had massacred her clan and he didn't regret it. He was content with the outcome, although the emotional setback on her part was rather unfortunate. Sometimes he still did 'see' the angry Kuruta in Kurapika, demanding retribution and giving him baleful glares. It wasn't on the surface, but he could 'see' it. Sometimes his True Vision was such a burden.

He was also aware that Kurapika had never once said "I forgive you."

Silence filled the room, but there was no angry tension to it. It was a melancholic silence where Kurapika tried not to reminisce too deeply into the memories of her childhood because it might give her dangerous thoughts. It was a solemn silence where Kuroro chose to be there specifically for Kurapika; he would be there even if she wished to lash out at him, whatever she dished out he would take them on without a word. It was her prerogative and his responsibility.

"Like an anxious father." The words came with a quiet chuckle.

Kuroro blinked dumbly. He almost couldn't believe the lightness in Kurapika's voice. Usually she was very solemn and a tad bitter during times like this.

"What?"

"I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be looking like a true, bona-fide anxious father." Kurapika turned and smiled at him fondly.

The evening glow illuminated her iridescently, giving her an unearthly glow. Her golden hair glittered in orangey hue, and her earrings—one of his many gifts for her—glimmered almost shyly. Her hair swayed lazily in the evening breeze. If Kuroro was any lesser man, he would have gawked like an idiot at the image. But Kuroro, being Kuroro Lucifer, simply raised his hand and silently beckoned at her. She willingly glided from the window toward him.

"You always look so carefree about the children." She took his hand in hers. "Half the time you don't behave like their father. More like an accomplice or brother-in-crime. Or a Godfather."

"I am all of those." He said with a boyish smirk as he pulled her to his lap. He was pleased when she didn't fight him.

"You are so insufferable." Kurapika rolled her eyes.

Kuroro rubbed the scars on her palms with his thumbs. He still remembered how he gave Kurapika that scar, and how she refused to completely heal the scar. A reminder, she had said. Kuroro vaguely wondered if she still needed that reminder. It wasn't like he thought the scar as ugly. It was the contrary, really.

"Aren't you going to ask whether he hates you or not?" Kurapika asked as she watched his thumbs tracing her scars. It was almost hypnotic.

"Why should I?" Kuroro said with a shrug. "It hardly changes anything. He's still my child, I'm still his father. And I'll still make sure that he's not going anywhere until he perfects his control."

"So tyrannical."

"Oh? I believe that is a title reserved for you?"

"Shut it." She flushed in embarrassment and elbowed him lightly. "I have my reasons to be tyrannical."

"So do I, Kurapika. So do I. It's a necessary evil." He chuckled and began quoting, "_Folly is bound in the heart of a child…_"

"…_but the rod of discipline shall drive it away from him._ Proverb chapter 22 verse 15." She finished the quote—which was becoming one of their weird habits—and twisted around to stare at him. "And for your information, he doesn't hate you. Just very _very _scared of you. And very sick."

"I'll do something about it," he said, and gave Kurapika a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

Kurapika always squirmed and squeaked whenever he gave her a sloppy kiss, and by God he _loved _it when she squirmed. A bit sadistic but hey, he was Kuroro Lucifer. It wasn't like she was complaining loudly about it either.

"You better do." Kurapika muttered as she wiped her cheek. "He was blathering something about your legacy and mine in his fever. Apparently he thinks the Genei Ryodan is your legacy as much as the Scarlet Eye is mine."

"Fascinating and very flattering." Kuroro beamed, almost giddily. He was obviously very happy and proud.

Kurapika, meanwhile, was equally fascinated. Sometimes he could be so childish.

"Yes, _very. _So make it up to him."

"I will, I will." He _cooed._

Kuroro suddenly fell back—and Kurapika yelped—and rolled over so he was spooning her. His arms had moved so they were around her waist and his face was buried in her hair. They stayed that way for a while, before Kurapika finally spoke up.

"Kuroro?"

"Mmm?"

"Hands off."

"No."

She rolled her eyes.

"It's almost dinner."

"Bia can take care of the kids."

"She's a kid herself!"

"With an adult mind. Her mind has different growth rate thanks to Bensalem. So technically she's an adult. She'll deal with it."

Kurapika groaned and tried different tactic.

"Aren't you hungry?"

"No."

"Well I am."

"I'll feed you later."

"Are you for real?"

"Perfectly."

She could oh so hear the grin.

"Fine." She sighed. "At least make me comfortable."

"You want comfortable?"

Kurapika heard that _tone. _She quickly turned around and—

"Kuroro, I—"

—game over.

* * *

Bia suddenly looked up from her book and stared at the ceiling. She stared for a while before she finally made a face. She wordlessly put down her bookmarked book and got off the sofa.

"_I'll be making dinner_." She announced to the twins with her Nen words as she walked to the kitchen.

"Why? Where's Mama and Papa?" Sarai asked as she paused grooming Bibi; who promptly chirruped in protest.

"_Busy_," was all that Bia dared to say.

To err on the side of caution, Bia set up barrier on the staircase so the twins couldn't go to the second floor, where their parents' bedroom was.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ It's been a while since the last time I mashed up comedy, romance, and angst in one chapter =D it feels good. Slightly insane, unstable Kuroro is so exciting to write. _

_But I'm wondering whether Kurapika and Kuroro are OOC or not. Of course they are irrevocably different from the canon Kurapika and Kuroro, because as characters they are forced to grow and change by circumstances, but... What do you guys think? Are they still okay-ish? I tried to inject their original personalities as much as I could, but I don't know how successful I am in that aspect. Then again, I haven't seen much of Kuroro's true personality in the manga or anime aside from his Danchou persona or when he is in disguise. Kurapika is easier in that sense._


	50. T is for Tobacco

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings._

* * *

_ABC Series_

**_T IS FOR TOBACCO_**

* * *

Lucian scratched his chin bemusedly. This wasn't how he had planned the visit.

"Mom, pleaaaaaase?"

"No."

He had planned to just come, spoiled the kids rotten with some souvenirs he got from his travel, chatted with and gave Kurapika her share of souvenir, and hogged Lucifer for the rest of the day for some classified talk about 'stuffs' from Abelard Constantin.

"Pretty please? With cherry on top?"

"I said NO. Go back to your room."

But noooo… Things never went the way he planned it. He had come to their house, yes. The kids had greeted him affectionately (read: catapulted themselves toward him and smothered him), yes. He had given them their gifts, yes. He had chatted with Kurapika and gave her a souvenir, yes. Meta stayed away from his bag, NO. Him unearthing off-limit objects from his bag, OH HELL YES.

"Just one! One! Please? I just want to try!"

"NO. This is not for kids!"

"But Moooooooommmm…."

Meta was practically clinging like a rag doll hooked around Kurapika's waist and begged to his mother shamelessly. Kurapika tried to pry the boy off her, while at the same time glaring daggers and swords at Lucian with the tell-tale 'do something about this, this is your fault!' look in her eyes. Lucian could only sigh.

He dangled the tobacco pouch off his bony index finger and tapped Meta's head to get his attention.

"Meta, she's right. This stuff isn't for kids," he paused, and added, "not for any of you except for me, for that matter. This is poisonous."

That had the desired outcome. Meta looked at him in horror and stopped harassing Kurapika. Kurapika meanwhile, looked at Lucian as if he had just said that he lived off heroin.

"But you smoke it!"

"Poisonous for you, but not for me. This stuff is special for my kind. So don't go anywhere near it, okay? It's like arsenic for you."

"But I've seen other people smoke it too! In Fino's inn!"

"Different type. This one is exclusively for me. The ones those people smoke are for you people."

Meta looked enlightened, which made Kurapika glared more at Lucian, and made Lucian hastily added:

"But you still shouldn't smoke them."

"Why?"

"Ummm…." Lucian had to refrain from chewing his own lips as he grovelled for answers. "Because they taste like shit?"

Meta gave him dubious look, while Kurapika narrowed her eyes at him.

"And they give you cancer!" Lucian quickly said triumphantly.

Now Meta looked positively horrified.

"So they ARE poisonous?!"

"Well, yeah… Kinda. It's like inhaling a little bit of poison every time you smoke it."

"So why do they still smoke it? Do they not know that it's poisonous?"

"Some people don't, but some people do…" Lucian felt like he was digging his own grave.

"Then why do they still smoke it?" Meta looked like he had just been told that tomorrow was Judgement's Day.

"Ummm… Well…"

"Because some feel good when they smoke it, and they are simply addicted to it." A new voice said from the doorway.

"Kuroro!" Kurapika chided him, tone dripping with disapproval.

Said man strolled in leisurely with his hands in his pockets. Lucian quickly whipped around and showered Kuroro with 'SAVE ME!' face. He quickly scooted over to give space for the guy to sit on.

"It's the truth." Kuroro said with a smirk. "And I said _some_, not _all_."

"It feels good?" Meta tilted his head sideways and frowned in confusion.

"Just like how some masochistic people like to cut themselves because the pain makes them feel good." Kuroro explained with a smile that was just a little bit sadistic.

"Oh. I get that." Meta said with a nod.

Lucian felt like slapping himself at the way Meta readily understood the explanation about masochism and sadism when the kid had a hard time understanding why people like smoking. Sometimes this kid was so incredibly intelligent, but sometimes he was just so incredibly dumb too. Like his father, for that matter. Lucian decided that trait was inherited purely from Lucifer, alright. From the way Kurapika rolled her eyes and shook her head, she seemed to be in the same wavelength as Lucian was in this topic.

"But you just said it's poisonous." Meta continued innocently. "I know poisons don't feel good."

Something clicked in Lucian's mind and he swivelled around to start shrieking: "YOU POISON YOUR OWN KID?!"

"Resistance training." Kuroro corrected him languidly.

Lucian gawked, and then turned to bombard Kurapika.

"AND YOU APPROVED?!"

"Better be safe than sorry later." Kurapika shrugged. "I don't like it, but it's necessary. I had the same training too when I was younger."

"Killua also said he had resistance training when he was my age." Meta said proudly.

"_Voi sunteti nebuni! _(You guys are insane!) Might as well let him try smoking! It probably won't have any effects on hi—UUMPH!"

Kuroro snickered softly as he fetched and threw back to Kurapika the couch pillow that she had just hurled at Lucian.

"NO! We are not having a smoker in this family!" Kurapika crossed her arms defiantly.

Lucian stared at Kuroro and elbowed him. Of course Kurapika saw that and raised an eyebrow at that.

"What?"

"Actually," Kuroro took the tobacco pouch and fished out the rest of the cigarette-making 'equipment' from Lucian's bag and began _expertly _making one stick. He then waved the finished cigarette playfully at Kurapika. "I do smoke."

Kurapika looked at him as if he had just said that he had a dozen of twins running around the world. Lucian immediately snatched the cigarette off Kuroro's hand and stuffed it in his pocket away from sight because Meta was _eyeing _it dangerously curiously. Lucian then pointed a warning finger at the boy and mouthed "No!"

"But I've _never_ seen you smoking. I've never smelt the smoke on you, either." She said, befuddled and a tad wary.

"I don't like it." He shrugged.

Kurapika frowned and blinked, even more bewildered. Meta, meanwhile, had averted his attention from Lucian's pocket to his father. Meta felt confused even more. Lucian said it was poisonous, but Dad said it made people feel good and addicted, and now he said he didn't like it? So it was good or not?

"But you just said—"

"I know the skill, but that doesn't mean I like it." He gave her a wink. "It's the same as how some people learn martial arts not because they like it but out of necessity. I don't smoke unless it's necessary for the missions."

"How is smoking a necessary skill?" She asked dubiously.

"It's a useful skill, Kurapika." He said indulgently. "Between men, smoking can be a form of camaraderie. Certain men—especially in the shady department—are more receptive to people who smoke like they do. Offer them a piece, and it's as good as opening a deal. It's a very useful skill for infiltration."

"So can I try?" Meta quickly asked, eyes sparkling with anticipation.

"NO!" Kurapika hastily said, and turned to Kuroro. "They can learn many different skills that you think useful, but I do not approve this one. No smoking for them!"

"You don't like smoking, Kurapika?"

"No!"

"Have you tried it before?"

"No. I can't even stand the smell in the air. How am I supposed to get that stupid smoke _inside_ me into my lungs? Heck no."

"And I don't like it either. Between your gene and mine, I'm pretty sure Meta won't like it either. Let him experience it."

"I'm not taking chances." Kurapika said stubbornly.

"Would you rather he tries it behind your back secretly without our supervision?"

Meta actually looked sheepish when Kuroro said that while staring at him. Kuroro had an amused smile while Lucian rolled his eyes—_like father like son_, he thought. Kurapika chewed her lower lips, obviously swayed by Kuroro's argument. The fact that Meta was giving her his best puppy eyes wasn't helping.

"Fine." Kurapika finally gave in, and quickly added before Meta could start cheering, "BUT! Not inside or anywhere around the house. I don't care where, but do it somewhere so I can't smell it."

"Yes, ma'am!" Meta saluted her cheerfully.

"And if he gets addicted and becomes a smoker," Kurapika turned to Kuroro and pointed a warning finger at him, "it's your head on the block."

"Of course." Kuroro said with another indulgent smile.

So that evening found Kuroro teaching Meta how to roll the cigarette stick and smoke it like a pro, while Lucian and one curious Shalnark watched on the sideline. They decided to conduct the lesson outdoor on the river bank of one of the streams in the mountain to minimise the risk of forest fire. Of course, like any other first-timer, Meta coughed so bad until his eyes were tearing and on instinct he threw the cigarette stick into the stream.

To everyone's relief—Kuroro included—Meta indeed hated smoking. He refused to continue the 'lesson', but Kuroro simply had an indulgent smile as he patiently coaxed the boy to perfect his acting skill of smoking-the-stupid-cancer-stick-like-it's-a-piece-of-lolipop (skill name courtesy to Lucian's passing remark and encouragement).

"I don't understand." Lucian suddenly said as he observed Meta trying to rinse the foul taste out of his mouth with the stream water.

"What is it?"

"Why doesn't Kurapika just threaten him with the universal 'couch for you tonight' threat? You know, the trick or punishment that women always pull off when they are pissed off at their men?"

"Seriously? You think anybody can make Danchou sleep in the couch when there's a perfectly fine king-sized bed in the house? Not even Kurapika can do it. Nope."

"…He probably seduces her before she can say the words."

"Don't make it sound so lewd." Shalnark elbowed him in protest.

"Only to Kurapika, though." Lucian said with a grin.

Shalnark was about to open his mouth to protest, but decided against it because that statement actually had some merit. He had never seen Danchou showing the faintest sliver of attraction to anyone else; male or female, except for Kurapika. He regarded most females as pawns for his games or strategy, toying with them and using them as stepping stones. In fact, even when he was bored Danchou never resorted to women. There was even some hushed talk among the Spiders that Danchou might be gay (before Kurapika came to the picture), and that Lucian might be his partner. Danchou and Lucian sometimes bickered like old married couple. They still did now, but it was nothing compared to how Danchou bickered with Kurapika.

* * *

Lucian hadn't planned his visit to be this weird.

He also hadn't planned to be laughing his guts out, cackling and guffawing tearfully while rolling on the ground as Kurapika banned father and son from entering the house; practically slamming the door in their faces.

Reason for the ban was because they reeked of tobacco smell and Kurapika was not going to have any tobacco smell lingering in the house. Nope. Over her dead body. So she enlisted the help of Bia in erecting a Nen barrier around the house as long as Kuroro and Meta still had tobacco smell on them. Of course the white-haired girl was just too happy to comply with Mommy Dearest's wish, because Bia absolutely hated the smell of tobacco herself.

Logically, of course Kuroro could break down Bia's barrier but doing so would incur some major collateral damage. Bia's Nen barrier was designed so that it would go out with a BANG! when it was breached, and she tended to make it _really _strong. She took no chances, just like her mother. Kuroro would have to exert considerable amount of Nen to break down the barrier, and the impact of the collision would probably destroy their porch and the front door. He had no desire to do carpenter work. So off they went to the stream to take a bath and clean their clothes.

Lucian was having the time of his life.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__This chapter was inspired by an image I saw in zerochan dot net slash 1496526. Kuroro doesn't really strike me as the smoking type; he looks too clean-cut to do that kind of thing. But then again, he probably knows how to smoke for the sake of knowing. He's the type that likes to be able to do everything._


End file.
